Tissue engineering and auricular reconstruction: a review

This article provides an up-to-date review of the strategies used in auricular cartilage engineering. The currently available options in stem cell, biomaterial and bio-molecules and the crucial issues for the auricular cartilage engineering are presented. Researchers have demonstrated that neo-cartilage can be constituted in a predetermined shape and in complex three-dimensional structures, such as a human ear, by using cell transplantation on polymer constructs. Despite this, many unsolved problems still remain. No perfect materials and methods have been found to substitute the shapely elastic cartilage normally present in the ear, and the current constructs have not proven to be durable over time. The recent advances in surgical techniques and biotechnology can promise clinical application of bio-engineered cultured cartilage in the future. Further long-term in vitro and in vivo studies must be done before tissue engineering can be applied to reconstructive surgery of the auricle.