Ligaments and Ligamentoplasties

Despite a substantial amount of literature already accumulated on the subject, our understanding of the structure, function, and biology of the cruciate ligaments has yet to reach the point where we can repair this complicated structure. This volume does not attempt to address every aspect of cruciate ligament replacement, but rather chooses to concentrate on the neurological function of the ligaments. It adopts a pragmatic approach to fatigue testing in more physiological conditions, biomimetic designs, European surgical techniques and new approaches derived from tissue engineering. As such, it is the first volume to sufficiently emphasise the progress that has been made outside of North America and follows more closely the SICOT/SIROT philosophy. The first section provides an overview of the increasing amount of knowledge on natural ligaments, while the second one reviews - using a biomimetical approach - the different concepts and designs of artificial ligaments developed over the last few decades. The final section presents new directions to expand our present understanding and suggests future approaches.