Organ Bioengineering, Regeneration and Repair:Where the Future of Organ Transplantation is Taking Shape

Although organ transplantation is now widely viewed as one of the monumental achievements in the history of modern medicine, that was not always the case. Indeed, back at the beginning of the 20th century the idea of replacing diseased organs with new functioning counterparts seemed unthinkable. However, as a result of the vision and perseverance of pioneers, their temerity to challenge ethical and biological paradigms, concomitant progress in surgical techniques and know-how, along with the conception, implementation and development of technologies and the creation of ad hoc infrastructures, the dream eventually became reality and organ transplantation has become routine medical practice. Patients that would have inexorably been destined to death prior to these advances can now have their damaged organs replaced and enjoy a satisfactory quality of life, quite comparable to that of non-transplant individuals.