For many patients the removal of several centimetres of bone
from the lower leg following a serious injury or a tumour extraction is only
the beginning of a longlasting ordeal. Numerous surgeries are
necessary to restore the leg to health, and bone
regeneration takes a long time – provided it succeeds at all. Striving to
accelerate and to boost the healing process, scientists have now begun
deploying autologous stem cells.
Sixty years ago, large bone defects of several centimetres
would inevitably lead to an amputation of the affected leg or arm. In the
1950s, Russian scientists succeeded for the first time in repairing such
defects to the lower leg using a technique that has been, on the whole, applied
ever since.