Patient, parent and professional expert perspectives on personalized regenerative implants: a qualitative focus group study

Background: Perspectives of patients, parents and professional experts on personalized regenerative implants for regenerative medicine purposes are largely unknown. Method: To better understand these perspectives, we conducted four focus groups with professional experts of mixed European nationality (n = 8), Dutch patients with regular implants (n = 8), Dutch and Belgian (n = 5) and Spanish (n = 8) parents of children with cleft palate. Results: Two overarching themes were identified: ‘patient-centered research and care’ and ‘ambivalent attitudes toward personalized regenerative implants’. Discussion: The results reveal that stakeholders should adopt a participatory rather than an impairment discourse and address the ambivalence among professional experts, patients and parents. Conclusion: Considering stakeholder perspectives facilitates ethical and responsible development and use of personalized regenerative implants.