Methods of building a body portion

A method of creating at least a portion of a bone for a patient, the method comprising:

• generating a three dimensional image of an area in the patient where said at least a portion of a bone is to be positioned;
• forming a natural bone scaffold having a plurality of passages through which blood may flow and configured for attachment of different types of stem cells, comprising:
• obtaining natural bone from a body;
• removing tissue and cells from the natural bone to leave a porous natural collagen structure defining the plurality of passages of the natural bone scaffold;
• shaping the porous natural collagen to correspond to the three dimensional image of the area in the patient,
• harvesting stem cells from at least one soft tissue source of the patient;
• culturing the stem cells;
• positioning the stem cells into the passages of the natural bone scaffold;
• and
• exposing the stem cells to at least one environmental condition.

A method of forming at least a portion of an organ for a patient, the method comprising:

• forming a natural organ scaffold defining a plurality of passages through which blood may flow and configured for attachment of different types of stem cells, comprising:
• obtaining at least one of a natural organ and a portion of a natural organ from a body;
• removing tissue and cells from the at least portion of the natural organ to form a porous natural collagen structure;
• shaping the porous natural collagen to an individual configuration corresponding with the shape of at least one of a specific organ and a portion of a specific organ of the patient in a three dimensional image of an area in the patient where the natural organ scaffold is to be positioned;
• harvesting stem cells from at least one soft tissue source of the patient;
• culturing the stem cells;
• positioning the stem cells into the passages of the natural organ scaffold;
• exposing the stem cells to by controlling at least one environmental condition.

A method of building an organ of a body for a patient, the method comprising:

• providing a pattern corresponding to the body portion to be repaired or replaced;
• applying a moldable first material to at least a portion of the pattern;
• solidifying the moldable first material with respect to the pattern;
• separating the pattern from the solidified moldable first material to form a mold cavity;
• injecting a second material with at least one of a chemical blowing agent and an entrained gas into the mold cavity, the second material solidifying into an open cell porous structure;
• and
• creating a synthetic single piece scaffold integrally formed from the open cell porous structure solidified inside the mold cavity, the scaffold having a plurality of passages configured to form a network of blood vessels through which blood may flow, the passages created during processing of the scaffold and comprised of the same material as the scaffold, wherein the passages are at least one of arterioles and venules.