什么是再生医学?

再生医学是替代科学, 改造或再生人体细胞, 组织恢复或建立正常形式和功能的组织或器官. 这广泛地包括了单元格的使用, 组织, 药物, 合成生物材料和设备，以帮助患者更有效地从创伤中愈合, 癌症治疗, 其他疾病过程和出生异常. Regenerative medicine therapies can have goals of both healing damaged 组织 and forming new tissue.

While many clinicians and scientists across all fields of medicine have been involved in regenerative medicine research and clinical advances over the last two decades, plastic surgeons have been especially instrumental in moving new therapies into the clinical arena and having a leadership role in new scientific discoveries.

正在进行的研究和临床护理领域:

烧伤护理: 整形外科医生 have been pioneers in the use of protein scaffolds to generate the dermal layer, 或者是皮肤的最内层, 燃烧后受伤.

神经再生: 整形外科医生, 在手部和上肢手术的实践中, 还有下肢手术, are forging new paths in the science of regenerating nerves and restoring optimal function after nerve injury. 这些疗法包括使用特殊的生长因子来刺激神经愈合, as well as special biomaterials to serve as guides to direct the growth of nerve fibers.

乳房重建: 乳房再造是许多女性癌症治疗的重要组成部分. 整形外科医生 are achieving better outcomes through the use of decellularized tissue scaffolds to regenerate new tissue layers over implants in breast cancer survivors.

伤口护理: Complex wounds that are difficult to heal represent a major focus for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine strategies. 皮肤替代品, 由实验室中生长的活细胞组成, 是用来治疗这类伤口的吗. 此外，人们正在探索生长因子以促进伤口愈合. One of the most significant breakthroughs in regenerative therapy for wound healing has been the use of negative pressure devices. 一个整形外科医生发现的, these devices use negative pressure and micro-mechanical forces to stimulate wound healing.

脂肪移植和脂肪干细胞治疗: A significant advance in surgical regenerative medicine has been the development and refinement of techniques to transfer fat tissue in a minimally invasive manner. 这允许身体其他部位的脂肪组织再生, 用病人自己多余的脂肪组织. This technique is revolutionizing many reconstructive procedures, including breast reconstruction. 重要的是，脂肪组织是成体间充质干细胞的重要来源. 被整形外科医生发现, adipose derived stem cells are easy to isolate from fat tissue and hold tremendous promise for treating many disorders across the body.

疤痕治疗: 整形外科医生 are experts in the biology of scar formation and the molecular signals that impact healing. 再生疗法正在使用基于能量的设备进行开发, 如激光和强脉冲光, 改善疤痕的愈合.

手部和面部移植: “组织替代疗法”的终极目标," hand and face transplantation represents a life-restoring therapy for patients with severe trauma or other disease processes that result in loss of the hands or face. 大多数人都没有意识到这个事实, 但第一次成功的人体器官移植是由一位整形外科医生完成的. Dr. 约瑟夫·默里在1954年进行了第一例肾脏移植手术. 整形外科医生 have been building up on his legacy in developing this new field of hand and face transplantation. This field also blends elements of cell therapy in order to control the immune response and reduce the need for toxic immunosuppressive 药物.

生物假肢接口-连接人与机器: This very interesting area of regenerative practice is directed at methods of connecting severed nerve endings with powered artificial limbs. This often involves "rerouting" the severed nerve endings to different muscles so that sensors over the skin can detect the signals and transmit them to a computer that controls the artificial limb.

骨再生: For patients suffering extensive face or a limb trauma, large segments of bone may be missing. 整形外科医生 are using calcium-based scaffolds and biomaterials derived from bone to form new bone tissue for reconstructive purposes.

“定制的纸巾瓣." 对于涉及复杂结构的畸形，比如鼻子的主要部分, 整形外科医生正在人体的另一个部位制造新的替换部件. 在一个叫做“皮瓣预制”的过程中," the structure is assembled using tissue grafts and then transferred to the deformity after healing.

通过组织扩张生成新皮肤: Another technique pioneered by plastic surgeons is the use of gradual expansion of implanted balloon devices to generate new skin tissue that can cover a deformity. This technique is revolutionizing breast reconstruction and the treatment of many birth anomalies.