Osseous tissue engineering in oncologic surgery

Tissue engineering is an interdisciplinary field that will yield new source s of tissue for clinical and research purposes in oncology. Bone is under i ntense investigation by this field. Relevant areas of progress are in advan ced computing, biomaterials, cell technology, growth factor fabrication and delivery, and gene manipulation. Clinical techniques will emerge from cont inued investigation in each of these areas. Techniques that are developed m ust be scaled up to industry with products cleared by regulatory agencies a nd acceptable to clinicians and patients. The goals of tissue engineering i n oncology are improved tissue models for basic cancer research and a chang e in clinical practice. Semin. Surg. Oncol. 19:294-301, 2000. (C) 2000 Wile y-Liss, Inc.