Adipose tissue engineering: The future of breast and soft tissue reconstruction following tumor resection

Reconstructive surgeons have always been at the forefront of medical techno logy. The history of reconstructive surgery began with ablative surgery, wh ich was followed by tissue and organ transplantation, leading to contempora ry tissue reconstruction. The field of reconstructive surgery is poised at the next stage of its evolution, namely tissue regeneration. The field of t issue engineering has largely defined this evolutionary leap. One active ar ea of investigation is the development of tissue engineering strategies for adipose tissue. Bioengineers, life scientists, and reconstructive surgeons are synergistically coupling expertise in areas such as cell culture techn ology, tissue transfer, cell differentiation, angiogenesis, computer modeli ng, and polymer chemistry to regenerate adipose tissue de novo for breast r eplacement and soft-tissue augmentation following tumor resection. This wor k presents the current state of the art in adipose tissue engineering, as w ell the clinically translatable strategies currently under development. Sem in. Surg. Oncol. 19:302-311, 2000. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.