Testa Stefano, Fornetti Ersilia, Fuoco Claudia, Sanchez-Riera Carles, Rizzo Francesco, Ciccotti Mario, Cannata Stefano, Sciarra Tommaso, Gargioli Cesare
Department of Biology, Rome University Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy.
Joint Veteran Center, Scientific Department, Army Medical Center, 00184 Rome, Italy.
Biomedicines. 2021 May 18;9(5):564. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines9050564.
Volumetric muscle loss (VML) is the massive wasting of skeletal muscle tissue due to traumatic events or surgical ablation. This pathological condition exceeds the physiological healing process carried out by the muscle itself, which owns remarkable capacity to restore damages but only when limited in dimensions. Upon VML occurring, the affected area is severely compromised, heavily influencing the affected a person's quality of life. Overall, this condition is often associated with chronic disability, which makes the return to duty of highly specialized professional figures (e.g., military personnel or athletes) almost impossible. The actual treatment for VML is based on surgical conservative treatment followed by physical exercise; nevertheless, the results, in terms of either lost mass and/or functionality recovery, are still poor. On the other hand, the efforts of the scientific community are focusing on reconstructive therapy aiming at muscular tissue void volume replenishment by exploiting biomimetic matrix or artificial tissue implantation. Reconstructing strategies represent a valid option to build new muscular tissue not only to recover damaged muscles, but also to better socket prosthesis in terms of anchorage surfaces and reinnervation substrates for reconstructed mass.
容积性肌肉损失（VML）是指由于创伤事件或手术切除导致的骨骼肌组织大量消耗。这种病理状况超出了肌肉自身进行的生理愈合过程，肌肉本身具有显著的修复损伤的能力，但仅限于损伤范围较小时。VML发生时，受影响区域会严重受损，极大地影响患者的生活质量。总体而言，这种情况常与慢性残疾相关，这使得高度专业化的职业人员（如军事人员或运动员）几乎无法重返工作岗位。目前VML的治疗方法是先进行手术保守治疗，然后进行体育锻炼；然而，在肌肉质量损失和/或功能恢复方面，效果仍然不佳。另一方面，科学界的努力集中在重建治疗上，旨在通过利用仿生基质或植入人工组织来补充肌肉组织的空隙容积。重建策略是构建新肌肉组织的有效选择，不仅可以恢复受损肌肉，还可以在锚固表面和重建肌肉的再支配基质方面更好地适配假肢。
