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Disc degeneration is a common disorder. Although the back pain that can develop in association with this is rarely life-threatening, the annual cost in terms of morbidity, lost productivity, medical expenses and workers' compensation benefits is significant. Surgical intervention as practised currently is directed towards removing the damaged or altered tissue. Development of new treatment modalities is critical as there is a growing consensus that the strategies used currently for symptomatic degenerative disc disease may not be effective. Accordingly, there is a need to develop an entirely new way to treat this disorder; regenerative medicine and tissue engineering approaches appear particularly promising in this regard. This paper reviews some of the challenges that currently are limiting the clinical application of this approach to the treatment of disc degeneration.

Original publication

DOI

10.1007/s00586-008-0746-2

Type

Journal article

Journal

Eur Spine J

Publication Date

12/2008

Volume

17 Suppl 4

Pages

480 - 491

Keywords

Animals, Cell Culture Techniques, Cell Transplantation, Chondrocytes, Humans, Intervertebral Disc, Intervertebral Disc Displacement, Outcome Assessment (Health Care), Patient Selection, Stem Cell Transplantation, Tissue Engineering, Tissue Scaffolds