R_Bibb_Medical_Modelling_The_Application_of_Adv.pdf

Future developments 279
ments that require research and ingenuity on the part of engineers and clinicians
to adopt, adapt and implement these technologies in ways appropriate
to medicine.
7.6 Tissue engineering
The ability to create implants that are entirely compatible with the tissue
they are replacing is a major goal for reconstruction and rehabilitation and
many research groups are actively pursuing the area to such an extent that
it is becoming a fi eld in its own right. However, the majority of approaches
to manufacturing tissue-engineered structures depend on computercontrolled
techniques, many of which are similar in concept to rapid prototyping.
This provides yet another crucial driver in the ability to accurately
capture anatomy, design for anatomy and specify multiple materials using
computer-aided design techniques. Many of the challenges of tissue engineering
will require many years of study from multi-disciplinary teams,
which will include not only clinicians and engineers but also biologists and
biochemists. Many of the proposed developments also require a shift in
scale to the cellular level, which will provide yet more challenges to the
engineers attempting to model human tissue.