Tissue engineering application in general surgery

The field of tissue engineering encompasses efforts to construct functional biological elements using cells, biomaterials, or their combination [1]. While most definitions of tissue engineering cover a broad range of applications, in practice the term is closely associated with efforts to repair or replace tissue function that was lost due to trauma, disease, or genetic disorder. The term has also been applied to efforts to construct extracorporeal support systems such as kidney dialysis or bioartificial liver [2, 3]. The term regenerative medicine is sometimes used synonymously with tissue engineering, although the former term emphasizes the use of stem and progenitor cells to produce tissues. Finally, cellular therapies are closely related approaches which rely on the ability of individual cells to engraft and adapt to the host microenvironment without the support of biomaterials or a well-defined architecture. This chapter aims to review current tissue engineering applications which found their way into clinical practice. We will begin with a short historical review of the field and continue by describing tissue engineering applications in clinical practice. This work will examine applications in the cardiovascular system, musculoskeletal system, skin, and finally the digestive system. We will conclude this work by summarizing the current challenges and expanding opportunities of the field of tissue engineering.