Overview and general ideas of the development of constructions, materials, technologies and clinical applications of scaffolds engineering for regenerative medicine

Purpose: of this paper is the general presentation of the synergic utilisation of medical knowledge, tissue engineering and materials engineering for fabrication of functional substitutes of damaged tissues in the case of which medical indications show that classical prosthetics/implantation cannot be completely avoided, and that it is also appropriate to achieve natural ingrowth of the implanted elements into a living tissue in the implant area. Design/methodology/approach: This refers to post-injury losses, post-resection losses, as well as those originating from operative treatment of cancerous tumours or inflammation processes. Implantable biomedical devices are currently aggregately considered to be medical bionic implants where bionics is understood as production and investigation of biological systems to prepare and implement artificial engineering systems which can restore the lost functions of biological systems. Findings: The development of new hybrid technologies of bioactive and engineering materials for personalised scaffolds of tissues and bones requires a number of basic research and application work. They are presented numerous examples of the needs of the research for application of various bioactive and engineering materials, and their respective materials processing and tissue engineering technologies for manufacturing of the hybrid personalised implants and scaffolds. Research limitations/implications: There are no reports in the references about an original concept presented by the Author of introduction of prosthetics/implantation and tissue engineering techniques for the purpose of natural ingrowth of the implanted elements into a living tissue in the implant area without having to use mechanical devices, at least in the connection (interface) zone of bone or organ stumps with prosthetic/implant elements. Practical implications: They are open up vast possibilities for the application of the hybrid technologies of bioactive and engineering materials for personalized scaffolds of tissues and bones in accordance with the concept of the Author, presented in this paper. Medical bionic implants encompass numerous solutions eliminating various disfunctions of a human organism, among other implants of the cardiovascular system (stents, vessel prostheses, heart valves, pacemakers, defibrillators), digestive system implants, neuron devices (implants and neuronal prostheses to the central (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS), the cochlea, retina), orthopaedic prostheses (bone grafts, bone plates, fins and other connecting and stabilising devices, including screws applied in the area of ankles, knees and hands, bars and pins for stabilising fractured limbs), screws and plates in skull-jaw-face reconstructions, dental implants, and also scaffolds of bones and tissues in tissue engineering. Originality/value: The Author’s idea for the embracing hybrid technologies of bioactive and engineering materials with titanium alloys including personalised scaffolds of tissues and bones will be created. It is also a challenge to achieve a synergy of clinical effects obtained with classical prosthetics/implantation of large lost post-injury or post-resection recesses together with the use of achievements in advanced tissue engineering methods at least in the interface zone of bone or organ stumps with prosthetic elements/implants.