Biomaterials and tissue engineering in reconstructive surgery

This paper provides an account of the rationale for the development of implantable medical devices over the last half-century and explains the criteria that have controlled the selection of biomaterials for these critical applications. In spite of some good successes and excellent materials, there are still serious limitations to the performance of implants today, and the paper explains these limitations and develops this theme in order to describe the recent innovations in tissue engineering, which involves a different approach to reconstruction of the body