The Future? Craniofacial Skeletal Muscle Engineering as an Aid for the Management of Craniofacial Deformities

Craniofacial skeletal muscle engineering has the potential to avoid the limitations associated with the current technique of surgical tissue transfer for the management of soft-tissue defects. The ability to create new replacement tissue identical to that absent is attractive, particularly if function and esthetics are restored to ideal and there is reduced donor site morbidity. This review will discuss the in vitro investigations undertaken thus far to produce skeletal muscle tissue, which has the correct architecture and functional capabilities suited to individual demands.