Running Wild

The Potential of Regenerative Medicine

While there are a variety of medical procedures or treatments that are designed to help maintain or improve your health, being able to restore what has actually been lost may be especially intriguing. With regenerative medicine, the goal is to encourage the body to re-grow tissue and heal its damaged organs or tissue. This may be by using created structures and varying types of stem cells or even specific medical devices, with the purpose of replacing tissues and cells that have been damaged by disease and aging.

Created tissue structures come into existence by combining various engineering materials, cells, and other biochemical factors, with the intention of replacing or improving biological functions. This in turn may lead to more effective procedures for repairing damaged organs and tissues, and research regarding stem cell therapy offers a variety of opportunities for exploring fundamental biological questions to bringing about helpful medical therapies. What is truly unique about stem cells is how they may renew themselves indefinitely, and transform into developed cells with specific functions. Any controversy surrounding these procedures, however, typically involves the sensitive and highly debated issue of using embryonic as well as adult stem cells. More palatable to many people is the potential for regeneration that may result from safely using their own stem cells.

While medical devices associated with regenerating tissues and organs may sound futuristic, the reality is that these devices are already a large part of more standard treatments and procedures. Vascular grafts, pacemakers, sutures, and intraocular lenses may all be part of beneficial regenerative processes. Diagnostic aids relating to pregnancy or other conditions, along with various test kits used to identify or predict diseases, may fall under the category of a regenerative medical device as well. Treatments that may actually restore damaged or lost tissue may help at virtually any stage of life.