Engineered scaffolds for intervertebral disc repair and regeneration and for articulating joint repair and regeneration

A method implemented on a computer having at least a processor and storage, for designing an intervertebral disc scaffold, the method comprising:

• creating a first set of databases representing a plurality of porous microstructure designs for the scaffold in image based format including one or more regions designed to have biochemical properties or to include bioactive agents;
• creating a second database representing scaffold exterior geometry desired to replace the native disc in the patient in image based format;
• and merging the first set of databases representing the desired microstructure designs with the second database into an image-based design of the scaffold, and
• wherein the image-based design includes a region designed to have a first biochemical property.

A method implemented on a computer having at least a processor and storage, for designing an osteochondral scaffold for replacing native tissue in a patient, the method comprising:

• creating a first set of databases representing a plurality of porous microstructure designs for the scaffold in image based format including one or more regions designed to have biochemical properties or to include bioactive agents;
• creating a second database representing scaffold exterior geometry desired to replace the native tissue in the patient in image based format;
• and
• merging the first set of databases representing the desired microstructure designs with the second database into an image-based design of the scaffold,
• wherein the image-based design includes a bone region designed to have a first biochemical property and a cartilage region designed to have a second biochemical property.

A method implemented on a computer having at least a processor and storage, for designing a joint replacement for a patient, the method comprising:

• creating a first set of databases representing a plurality of porous microstructure designs for the joint replacement in image based format including one or more regions designed to have biochemical properties or to include bioactive agents;
• creating a second database representing joint replacement exterior geometry in image based format;
• and
• merging the first set of databases representing the desired microstructure designs with the second database into an image-based design of the joint replacement,
• wherein the image-based design includes a bone region designed to have a first biochemical property and a surface region designed to have a second biochemical property.