INTEGRATED PROCESSES RESPONSIBLE FOR SOFT-TISSUE HEALING

Wounded soft tissues undergo repair through a complex series of interr elated events that involve both physical and chemical activities. Thes e processes are currently undergoing extensive investigation as effort s are directed toward achieving augmented and accelerated healing. Ear ly wound-healing research focused on expanding traditional histologic descriptions of tissue healing by attempting to characterize the envir onment and biologic mediators responsible for healing. These initial s tudies successfully identified a number of agents and physiochemical f actors present in healing wounds, but their precise roles and importan ce remain largely unknown. This review article summarizes the current literature on soft tissue healing. An effort has been made to correlat e the activities of the major growth factors and cytokines with the in dividual reparative processes including the inflammatory response, hem ostasis, fibroplasia, angiogenesis, and remodeling. Explanations and c haracteristics of growth factor function as well as brief descriptions of several major factors and their spectrum of activity are also prov ided.