Biomaterials
Regenerative medicine
Tissue engineering
TOTAL HIP-REPLACEMENT
TISSUE ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS
ENDOTHELIAL GROWTH-FACTOR
GLASS-IONOMER CEMENTS
POLY(DL-LACTIC-CO-GLYCOLIC ACID) FOAMS
SYNTHETIC BIODEGRADABLE POLYMERS
MOLECULAR-WEIGHT POLYETHYLENE
SMALL-INTESTINAL SUBMUCOSA
RANDOMIZED CLINICAL-TRIAL
POROUS GELATIN SCAFFOLDS
The widespread use of biomaterials in medicine and dentistry is a relatively new phenomenon dating back to the 1950's yet, today, an estimated 20 million individuals have an implanted medical device.Despite the huge impact that biomaterials have had on patients' quality of life, improvements in device performance and the development of alternatives to augment available therapies are continuously being sought. Clinical demand, advances in molecular and cell biology and the increased understanding of the role of the tissue-material interface on clinical performance has led to a metamorphosis of the biomaterials' field over the past 25 years. This has resulted in a change in the nature of biomedical devices from being biologically passive to actively integrated.This chapter explores the development and application of biomaterials over the past 25 years, examining the current clinical demand, the scientific rationale, and the technical challenges to be overcome. As biomaterials are applied in reconstructive surgery and tissue regenerative therapies, these areas are explored with specific examples of recent developments and current research activity used to illustrate the changing perspectives.