What Can Military Medicine Teach Us?

Trauma to the Face/Head is the Worst Kind!

Tissue Engineering Can Help a Scarred Face, and More …

The relatively new field of Tissue Engineering can address some of the trauma and scars to the face caused by a military explosion. However, the science in this area is pushing forward to go beyond the skin, to address craniofacial tissue engineering. Craniofacial tissue engineering works to generate the dental, oral, and craniofacial structures lost to trauma. Craniofacial structures offer complex and unique challenges when they are being engineered.

Large-scale tissue engineering research began in the early 1990s and has grown exponentially ever since. The first review of craniofacial tissue engineering appeared within the last number of years and focused primarily on tissue engineering principles. Of significance, there have been substantial strides achieved in craniofacial tissue engineering recently:

• Stem cells have been isolated from various craniofacial tissues, with widespread effort to purify and apply them in the tissue engineering of craniofacial structures.
• Several prototypes of the human-shaped hinge joint between the temporal bone and the lower jaw have been engineered with consolidated cartilage and bone layers from a single population of stem cells.
• Various elements of the functional tissues that both surround and support the teeth, aka periodontium, including the periodontal ligament and cementum, have been engineered via cell-based or non-cell-based approaches.
• Craniofacial bone has been engineered from stem cells, biomaterials and growth factors. A cranial seam-like structure has been engineered from cell and growth factor-based approaches.
• Adipose (body fat) tissue has been engineered in vivo from stem cells, with potential applications in facial plastic and reconstructive surgeries, mitigating against scar formation & preventing infection.

Current surgical strategies for reconstructing facial defects include autologous bone grafts (bone grafts coming from yourself), allogeneic (genetically similar, but not identical donor) materials, and prosthetic compounds such as metals and plastics. Much of this work has been experimental accounts from investigations with rodents. This is very exciting; however, the real question relates to the translation of experimental work into clinical practice.

This area is highly complex and important work for the military. But, just as important will be its applications for people who have had other traumatic situations, such as a car accident or fire, which have created similar craniofacial injuries.

Click Links Below for Information about the SafeTEC™ Consortium to Evaluate New Technologies: 

Download HERE to see the List of 15+ Technology Projects, and $3 Million Investment, for SafeTEC.

http://www.onemillionsolutionsinhealth.org/collaborate/safetech/

http://www.onemillionsolutionsinhealth.org/collaborate/signature-square/drug-safety-leaders-talk-about-safetec/