You people would not be here tonight
Nothing to do in the Zilla mansion
No problems, no skills required

But a murmur here
A leak there
An aberrant gene
Pressure rising
Beating out of turn
The heart and its tributaries
Can cease, or overflow
And you have to sew them together again
Sew to your heart’s delight

David Williams, To Your Heart’s Delight, Unpublished poem, 2017

All the above observations make it clear that the contents of this book are highly multi-factorial, indeed a prime example of multidisciplinarity. But it is more than that. Medical engineering itself is multidisciplinary, but if it proceeded as a combination of several distinct disciplines, it probably would not have got very far. It is not just the combination that matters but the interaction, indeed synergy, between them that is crucial. That synergy leads to the development of totally new areas of science and practice, which otherwise would not exist. This is why I have always considered this to be both multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary, which are not the same. Hopefully this will become evident as we progress with the discourse.

I should note that, apart from the physical reconstruction of reproductive organs, I do not discuss reproduction itself; I focus on reconstruction of individuals and not their ability to generate other individuals.

In the discussions that follow, although every attempt has been made to verify facts, this has not always been possible. This should not be considered as a pure classical academic textbook but as a compendium of historical and current experiences; I do not provide citations for everything I say, but I do give references to literature where appropriate, and provide notes and further reading where relevant. I have tried to be very catholic with respect to sources of citations, covering global origins and not just the usual Western-centric literature. With references to most publications and articles, I provide the conventional citation as well as an ISBN number or doi citation; I have used the publishers recommended form of citation, which are not always the same, so that there are minor inconsistencies in format.