By Cicely Enright

Jul 26, 2016

A new monograph from ASTM tackles bone substitutes and new horizons in bone regenerative engineering

Now available from ASTM, Bone Graft Substitutes and Bone Regenerative Engineering, Second Edition, covers advances in the science and technology behind bone repair techniques. The new monograph from ASTM and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons comprises 15 chapters addressing scientific and clinical topics in bone graft substitutes and bone regenerative engineering.

Clinicians, researchers, and industry and regulatory representatives, well known in their field, contributed the chapters. The first looks at the past, present and future of the field, with subsequent chapters that delve into classifications and applications of bone graft substitutes, clinical and regulatory perspectives, cell-based approaches, demineralized bone matrix and more.

The book builds on the first edition, Bone Graft Substitutes, which was published in 2003 following a workshop co-sponsored by AAOS and ASTM that shared developments in the field.

New research, information and strategies come together in this edition. "The new book has kept the essential spirit of the first edition and added many of the exciting new technologies and hot topics in bone regeneration," says co-editor Cato Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D. Laurencin is Albert and Wilda Van Dusen distinguished professor of orthopaedic surgery, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Connecticut in Farmington. Co-editor of the book is Tao Jiang, Ph.D., MBA, assistant professor, Institute for Regenerative Engineering, Department of Medicine at the University of Connecticut Health Center.

Seven core chapters from the first edition have been updated for this volume, plus, eight new ones have been added. Chapters address:

As highlighted in the book's foreword, "…Challenges still remain to reconstruct functional bone tissue mimicking natural bone morphogenesis. This is where bone regenerative engineering has a niche and a significant role to play."

Of particular interest in this area may be the chapter, "Regenerative Engineering: Fulfilling the Tissue Engineering Promise to Bone Regeneration." The authors review the tissue engineering approach to bone regeneration and move on to bone regeneration in a convergence of several fields that they believe is the next era in engineering bone tissue.

Overall, as Laurencin summarizes, "We believe that this book will be of tremendous value to people who work in all fields involving bone."