Slovenská chirurgia 2/2012

Stem cells in surgery

The article focuses on the current status in general research and clinical aplication of the stem cells. We bring a brief insight into the history of the field, as well as corresponding legal and ethical notes. We describe the stem cells characteristics and their main subtypes: totipotent, pluripotent, multipotent and unipotent stem cells, as well as the general source aspect: embryonic, foetal and adult stem cells. We delineate the basics of tissue engineering and scaffold use. The clinical application part covers the current experience and progress in the haematopoietic, urinary, respiratory, circulation, gastrointestinal, dermatologic, musculosceletal, nervous, endocrine and in oncology. The thesis lists some of the contradictory study results and stresses the need for further systematic research and careful clinical application.

Keywords: stem cells, characteristics, tissue engineering, clinical application.