Conclusions: Towards high-performance and industrially sustainable tissue engineering products

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, the research in biomedical field has been dominated by a paradigm shift whereby the concept of replacing damaged tissues and organs with medical devices has been overcome by the goal of their partial or complete regeneration. Although traditional implants (i.e., orthopedic, dental, cardiovascular, and ocular) are still widely used to ameliorate and save patients' life, it is now possible to engineer materials, bioactive components, and cells able to stimulate the regeneration of tissues damaged by either disease or trauma (Sipe 2002). It has to be outlined that this paradigm shift neither emerged independently nor aims to supersede completely the traditional tissue replacement by implants or by pharmaceutical therapies. Rather, lessons have been learnt from the development of traditional implants and drugs which can now be integrated in the development of new strategies for regenerative medicine. This chapter summarizes the principal aspects of regenerative medicine which have been presented in the previous chapters and highlights common denominators which may lead to the consolidation of medical protocols and to standardization of regulations. Furthermore, the progresses made so far in this field and the future ambitions will be weighed against commercial sustainability and ethical issues. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009.