Advancements in tissue engineered bone substitutes

The limitations of autogenous and allogenic bone grafts have driven the search for synthetic alternatives. Using a tissue engineering approach, researchers have developed a series of scaffolds for bone repair applications. In the past year, implants with a variety of structures and compositions have been fabricated. Several of these structures have incorporated bone morphogenetic proteins to provide osteoinductive capabilities. This article describes new bone grafting methods highlighting recent advances in the design and evaluation of several synthetic bone graft substitutes. The trends toward the use of porous biphasic calcium phosphates as bone graft materials and the combination of poly(α-hydroxy acid) scaffolds with recombinant bone morphogenetic proteins are discussed. A new form of synthetic bone graft that can be customized is also described.Curr Opin Orthop 1999, 10:445–451© 1999 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.