Current State of Clinical Application

Only a handful of tissue-engineered products have reached clinical reality to date. Most of the clinically tried tissue-engineering therapies thus far have yielded modest to no benefits and only in small, distinct patient populations, if not in purely anecdotal experience. As with most novel medical technologies, many hurdles remain to be overcome in the arduous translation from the laboratory to the bedside. Perhaps this should come as no surprise, in that the field is still relatively young. At the same time, as evidenced in examples discussed in this chapter and others, concrete clinical benefits from this technology have accumulated in the past several years, albeit still at a much slower pace than what we would hope for the future. Whereas tissue engineering continues to develop vigorously in ever more numerous laboratories around the world, much remains to be learned and developed, not only by scientists, clinicians, and entrepreneurs, but also by governmental regulatory agencies. Nevertheless, given its scientific premises, the potential magnitude of its impact to society, and what has been achieved thus far, it is reasonable to anticipate that continued efforts in this vibrant, multidisciplinary field should contribute to ultimately broaden its reach. The purpose of this chapter is to offer a much summarized overview of some of the present state of clinical application of tissue-engineering technology and its challenges for further development.