Final answer:
Surgeons use cadaver bone from bone banks for bone grafting in medical procedures to repair fractures, fill in gaps, or replace missing bone. It avoids the need for additional surgeries and reduces patient pain compared to autografts, and integrates with the patient's bone over time.
Step-by-step explanation:
Surgeons are using cadaver bone from bone banks in various medical procedures such as orthopedic surgeries, which involve the transplantation of bone to repair complex fractures or to fill in gaps where bone is absent due to trauma, tumor, or infection. This practice is known as bone grafting, and cadaver bones are carefully preserved in bone banks for these purposes. The use of cadaver bone from bone banks is not only a means to facilitate the healing process in patients but also offers a viable alternative to auto-grafting, where bone is taken from another part of the patient's body, to avoid additional surgery and reduce patient discomfort.
The bone tissue from cadavers is a living tissue, meaning that it contains living cells, has a blood supply, and nerves in a living person. This living tissue can integrate with the recipient's own bone tissue over time to restore functionality. This process is preferable to past practices, which involved extremely painful procedures such as large-bore needle insertions into sensitive areas like the iliac crest for bone marrow samples or transplants. Moreover, advancements in medicine have allowed for improved understanding of human anatomy and internal structures without resorting to invasive procedures, and progress continues toward in vitro organ and tissue generation from an individual's own cells to prevent rejection.