Regenerative medicine in orthopaedic surgery

Regenerative medicine holds great promise for orthopaedic surgery. As surgeons continue to face challenges regarding the healing of diseased or injured musculoskeletal tissues, regenerative medicine aims to develop novel therapies that will replace, repair, or promote tissue regeneration. This review article will provide an overview of the different research areas involved in regenerative medicine, such as stem cells, bioinductive factors, and scaffolds. The potential use of stem cells for orthopaedic tissue engineering will be addressed by presenting the current progress with skeletal muscle-derived stem cells. As well, the development of a revascularized massive allograft will be described and will serve as a prototypic model of orthopaedic tissue engineering. Lastly, we will describe current approaches used to design cell instructive materials and how they can be used to promote and regulate the formation of bony tissue. 2007 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published Wiley Periodicals, Inc.