Stem Cell Research: A New Era for Reconstructive Surgery

Reconstructive Surgery has gained tremendous development due to the emergence of flap techniques, since last century. However, many defects and deformities still cannot be cured satisfactorily, such as severe facial defects, or deformity caused by burns, tumor resection, or trauma. It can be more complicated if the injury involves the loss of bone or cartilage. The allotransplantation of composite tissue has been used for such cases, however, such technique is limited in a lack of source of tissue, complicated surgical process, and severe morbidity left at the donor site. Composite tissue allotransplantation is also regarded as one of the possible resolutions. Nevertheless, immunological rejection, lack of proper donors, and more importantly, psychological rejection, making such transplantation difficult to be a common or routine treatment. [1-6]