Tissue-engineered cartilage for implantation and grafting.

Facial plastic and reconstructive surgeons are continually faced with the dilemma of what material to use for implantation and grafting. Tissue-engineered cartilage is a relatively new and exciting concept which utilizes chondrocytes and cultures them on a three-dimensional biodegradable template. This template/cell complex is first briefly incubated in vitro, then implanted into a recipient host. In situ the template resorbs and is replaced with new cartilage that is viable, compatible, and mature. This paper discusses the biochemical composition of cartilage, the concept of tissue engineering, advances in template quality, and cartilage immunogenicity. Future clinical applications of this type of graft research include microtia repair, facial reconstruction, rhinoplasty, and other facial cosmetic procedures.