Infection and tissue engineering in segmental bone defects--a mini review.

As tissue engineering becomes more of a clinical reality through the ongoing bench to bedside transition, research in this field must focus on addressing relevant clinical situations. Although most in vivo work in the area of bone tissue engineering focuses on bone regeneration within sterile, surgically created defects, there is a growing need for the investigation of bone tissue engineering approaches within contaminated or scarred wound beds, such as those that may be encountered following traumatic injury or during delayed reconstruction/regeneration. Significant work has been performed in the area of local drug delivery via biomaterial carriers, but there is little intersection in the available literature between antibiotic delivery and tissue regeneration. In this review, we examine recent advances in segmental bone defect animal models, bone tissue engineering, and drug delivery with the goal of identifying promising approaches and areas needing further investigation towards developing both a better understanding of and new tissue engineering approaches for addressing infection control while simultaneously initiating bone regeneration.