Master's Project
Articular Cartilage Repair: A Review of Surgical, Tissue Engineered, and Drug Based Therapies
Summary:
For my master's degree, I conducted an extensive review of articular cartilage repair in osteoarthritis. I researched recently published literature providing insights to future development of repair technologies. The abstract below is taken directly from the report which can be downloaded with the link below.
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Abstract:
In this review, we will explain the current treatments available for osteoarthritis (OA) and speculate on future trends in treatment. With over 20 million individuals affected by OA in the United States, this significant percentage of the population presents with pain and stiffness of joints which results in decreased productivity and ultimate inability to take care of oneself (Mow & Huiskes, 2005). Increasingly a younger subset of the population is affected by OA due to sports injuries. These individuals require lifelong treatment and are more difficult to manage since they are more active and likely to inflict more damage to already weakened cartilage tissues. If left untreated, OA leads to the body’s failure to regenerate articular cartilage tissues resulting in a slippery slope of problems in the later stages of life. In this review, mechanisms of OA currently known will be discussed in context of drug, surgical, and tissue engineered treatment modalities. Pain management is the extent of current treatment for patients suffering from OA. Emerging technologies in regeneration of tissues with tissue engineering offer new treatment opportunities. These technologies go beyond just managing pain during the clinical stage of OA. Orthopedic medicine and treatment is moving in the direction of personalized tissue engineering with advancements in imaging modalities and rapid prototyping technology.