Allografts and xenografts in soft tissue repair: Current use and future trends

The use of allografts and xenografts in soft tissue repair has grown dramatically over the past several decades driven by dissatisfaction with existing products, a favorable regulatory environment, and an attractive business environment. Starting with a relatively small number of source tissues harvested from an equally small number of animal species that are available in the numbers necessary to support their widespread clinical use, a large number of products are now commercially available. These products are cleared for use in a variety of soft tissue augmentation procedures including dural repair, chest wall reconstruction, cardiac and cardiovascular surgery, abdominal wall repair, and pelvic organ prolapse repair. In this chapter, we review the sources, methods of processing, and clinical use of this diverse class of implants to provide insight on what is available in the marketplace today and what trends are likely in the future.