Bone repair by regeneration

Bone repair by regeneration as we know it continues to undergo changes, with advances approaching that may change our treatment of patients with craniofacial deformities and skeletal defects. Perhaps by the turn of the century, patients born with asymmetric deformities due to lack of growth will be treated early in life by skeletal stretching, and then later in life by skeletal distraction that is followed by use of accelerating factors to assist the healing processes. All of these available modalities are part of the regeneration of new bone formation. The future of such changes is very interesting, and our ability to help our patients will be maximized. We may even look back 25 years from now at bone grafting and find it to be obsolete and crude. It is hoped that with the new modalities being developed, we will not deviate from the use of a bone grafting procedure, which is the workhorse of the craniofacial surgeon. Bone grafting is used by all surgeons working on the craniofacial skeleton despite the problems of unpredictability of healing and an inability to calculate what percentage of the original graft will survive. The transplantation issue will be solved. The problems with donor site morbidity will continue. The use of inorganic bone substitutes will continue to have its limitation, particularly in type II wounds, which we as plastic surgeons see in the craniofacial region. As we redefine our approach to skeletal repair, we may look back and find solutions to some of the major problems we have had. The rapid stretch of soft tissue after facial advancement or structural alteration that is accompanied by a relapse due to the elastic recoil of the soft tissue could be eliminated by gradual distraction. The bone will undergo better functional adaptation when it has a gradual change in structure based on adjustment and molding in a gradual fashion. The problem of donor site morbidity and a prediction formula for bone could be resolved with new bone formation in situ by mineralization of the area under repair. Bone healing enhancers are here to stay and their clinical application will produce a far-reaching better final outcome (Fig. 11).