Expert review of medical devices
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Expert Rev Med Devices · Jan 2005
ReviewBone reconstruction: from bioceramics to tissue engineering.
Over the past 30 years, an enormous array of biomaterials proposed as ideal scaffolds for cell growth have emerged, yet few have demonstrated clinical efficacy. Biomaterials, regardless of whether they are permanent or biodegradable, naturally occurring or synthetic, need to be biocompatible, ideally osteoinductive, osteoconductive, integrative, porous and mechanically compatible with native bone to fulfill their desired role in bone tissue engineering. These materials provide cell anchorage sites, mechanical stability and structural guidance and in vivo, provide the interface to respond to physiologic and biologic changes as well as to remodel the extracellular matrix in order to integrate with the surrounding native tissue. ⋯ Yet issues that must be considered for the effective application of bioceramics in the field of tissue engineering are the degree of bioresorption and the poor mechanical strength. The synthesis of a new generation of biomaterials that can specifically serve as tissue engineering scaffolds for drug and cell delivery is needed. Nanotechnology can provide an alternative way of processing porous bioceramics with high mechanical strength and enhanced bioactivity and resorbability.