This is a new frontier with joint replacements. Dr. Stone talks about what he is exploring and uses the example of what he did for his wife with a 
“human” meniscus transplant. Arthritis is becoming a huge area where many of us are suffering, as we are living longer and the knees need to go the extra miles.
For his wife he was able to find a human donor for her. When you see some of the results here and what patients are doing it’s amazing. It is about regrowing tissue. The problem is there’s not enough human tissue available.
He talks about the solution being “animal” tissue. He has figured out how to use animal tissue from a cow and strip it and build a regenerative template to build upon. This is a world wide FDA approved procedure. He is also used pig ligaments with an FDA approved trial with 10 patients and some received awards in down hill skiing competition so this says a lot about durability too. He talks about the next move with the entire knee replacement with growing using your own stem cells and creating a new surface.
Pig tissue is being used in other areas as well and last year I had an opportunity to talk with Cook Medical and how they are using pig tissue and building scaffolds for hernia repair and other reconstructive areas with their Biodesign products.
Regenerative Medicine and How it Works – Interview with Cook Biotech (Medical)
The interview is worth a read and if you are looking at joint replacement right now, be sure and check up on the latest developments as this seems to be moving very fast.
This certainly sounds better than an artificial replacement and it will be interesting to see how this impacts the device business in this area. BD
Arthritis and injury grind down millions of joints, but few get the best remedy -- real biological tissue. Kevin Stone shows a treatment that sidesteps the high costs and donor shortfall of human-to-human transplants with a novel use of animal tissue. (Recorded at TED University 2010, February 2010 in Long Beach, CA. Duration: 6:52)
TED Blog: The bio-future of joint replacement: Kevin Stone on TED.com
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