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Healing from
inside out
The future is concealed in
the cell
In bioengineering, the term “tissue engineering” designates the healing and
treatment of damaged tissues or organs with living, autologous cells. The cells
are harvested from the patient, they are then cultivated (multiplied) in special
GMP-facilities and subsequently transplanted into the affected organ for tissue
replacement or repair.
The advantages of this method are enormous.
Patients do not have to fear tissue rejection as a result of the
transplantation. In addition, they profit from a natural healing process using
their own cells. In the body the transplanted cells can initiate regeneration of
the damaged tissue and restore its regular function.
Tissue engineering will revolutionize the replacement of tissues and organs. At
present, we can already successfully treat cartilage, bone and skin defects by
using tissue engineering technologies. Moreover, research on those fields still
progresses very quickly and promises completely new dimensions. Physicians,
medical scientists, biologists, bioengineers and other scientists are
intensively working together to ensure that also diseases of the heart and
circulatory system, as well as muscle-skeletal disorders including arthritis and
rheumatism can be treated by means of biological tissue substitutes on the long
run. This gives hope to many patients suffering from
pain, to those waiting for donor’s organs, to accident victims and to many
others.
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