Donor organ shortage remains a clear problem for many end-stage organ patients around the world. The number of available donor organs pales in comparison with the number of patients in need of these organs. The field of tissue engineering proposes a plausible solution. Using stem cells, a patient’s autologous cells, or allografted cells to seed-engineered scaffolds, tissue-engineered constructs can effectively supplement the donor pool and bypass other problems that arise when using donor organs, such as who receives the organ first and whether donor organ rejection may occur. However, current research methods and technologies have been unable to successfully engineer and vascularize large volume tissue constructs. This review examines the current perfusion methods for ex vivo organ systems, defines the different types of vascularization in organs, explores various strategies to vascularize ex vivo organ systems, and discusses challenges and opportunities for the field of tissue engineering.

Background Extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma (EMC) is a rare malignant soft tissue sarcoma (STS) that accounts for less than 3% of all soft tissue tumors. The conventional treatment for primary EMC is wide local excision with or without radiation therapy. Materials and Methods This study was a retrospective review of all EMC cases treated within a single institution between 1992 and 2019. EMC was diagnosed using a combination of histologic morphology and immunostaining, with confirmatory fluorescent in situ hybridization. Overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) were defined using Kaplan–Meier analysis. Results Fifteen patients were evaluated, including 11 males and four females. The average age at presentation was 51.7 ± 20.4 years and the mean follow-up time was 61.5 months (range, 5–286 months). The average resected tumor size at largest dimension was 7.14 cm (range, 2.4–18.7). Twelve of fifteen (80%) patients underwent wide local excision, and nine of the twelve (75%) underwent local radiation therapy. The 1-, 5-, and 10-year OS was 80% (95% CI, 59.8–100), 72% (95% CI, 48.5–95.5), and 72% (95% CI, 48.5–95.5), respectively. The 1-, 5-, and 10-year DSS was 92.3% (95% CI, 77.8–100), 83.1% (95% CI, 61.5–100), and 83.1% (95% CI, 61.5–100), respectively. At last follow-up, 11 patients were alive and ten (90.9%) were disease free. Conclusions Extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma is a very rare STS most often seen in males and in the extremities. Our cohort was too small to provide meaningful statistical analysis; however, we observed lower rates of local recurrence in patients treated with radiation.