title: The early fracture hematoma and its potential role in fracture healing.
abstract: Research regarding the potency and potential of the fracture hematoma has begun to receive increasing attention. However, currently there is a paucity of relevant literature on the capability and composition of the fracture hematoma. This review briefly summarizes the regenerative fracture healing process and the close interplay between the skeletal and immune systems. The role of immune cells in wound healing is also discussed to clarify their involvement in immunological processes during regeneration. We attempt to describe the current state of knowledge regarding the fracture hematoma as the initial stage of the regenerative process of fracture healing. The review discusses how a better understanding of immune reactions in the hematoma may have implications for bone tissue engineering strategies. We conclude the review by emphasizing how additional investigations of the initial phase of healing will allow us to better differentiate between deleterious and beneficial aspects of inflammation, thereby facilitating improved fracture treatment strategies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kolar
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schmidt-Bleek
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schell
authors.forename: Timo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gaber
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Toben
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schmidmaier
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Perka
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Buttgereit
authors.forename: Georg N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Duda
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001861:Bone Regeneration / Q000502:physiology; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D017102:Fracture Healing / Q000276:immunology; D050723:Fractures, Bone / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006406:Hematoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D023822:Tissue Engineering