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Bone Regeneration Research Paper

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Bone regeneration is a complex, well-orchestrated physiological process of bone formation, which can be seen during normal fracture healing, and is involved in continuous remodelling throughout adult life. However, there are complex clinical conditions in which bone regeneration is required in large quantity, such as for skeletal reconstruction of large bone defects created by trauma, infection, tumour resection and skeletal abnormalities, or cases in which the regenerative process is compromised, including avascular necrosis, atrophic non-unions and osteoporosis. Currently, there is a plethora of different strategies to augment the impaired or 'insufficient' bone-regeneration process, including the 'gold standard' autologous bone graft, free …show more content…

Standard approaches widely used in clinical practice to stimulate or augment bone regeneration include distraction osteogenesis and bone transport [6,7], and the use of a number of different bone-grafting methods, such as autologous bone grafts, allografts, and bone-graft substitutes or growth factors [8,9]. An alternative method for bone regeneration and reconstruction of long-bone defects is a two-stage procedure, known as the Masquelet technique. It is based on the concept of a "biological" membrane, which is induced after application of a cement spacer at the first stage and acts as a 'chamber' for the insertion of non-vascularised autograft at the second stage [10]. There are even non-invasive methods of biophysical stimulation, such as low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) and pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF) [11-13], which are used as adjuncts to enhance bone …show more content…

A variety of methods are currently used to treat bone loss or limb-length discrepancies and deformities, including external fixators and the Ilizarov technique [6,7], combined unreamed intramedullary nails with external monorail distraction devices [14], or intramedullary lengthening devices [15]. However, these methods are technically demanding and have several disadvantages, including associated complications, requirement for lengthy treatment for both the distraction (1 mm per day) and the consolidation period (usually twice the distraction phase), and effects on the patient's psychology and well-being

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