Allograft Fascia Lata as an Augmentation Device for Musculoskeletal Repairs

摘要

Musculoskeletal soft tissue injuries during combat are a source of debilitating pain, the treatment and evaluation of which pose a significant challenge to the orthopedic community. Extracellular matrix (ECM) scaffolds derived from various sources and species are being explored for the repair of musculoskeletal tendon injuries. In this paper we demonstrate that amongst these ECM scaffolds, only tensor fascia lata has structural and tensile material properties comparable to tendon, but fascia has poor suture retention properties. We have devised a novel means to increase the suture retention properties of fascia lata by developing a composite of the ECM tissue and biodegradable polymers. This technique may facilitate the efficacious use of fascia lata in the area of regenerative medicine, particularly for musculoskeletal repairs.