Foot, Ankle & Knee

Cartilage Repair Techniques

Richard D. Reitman, MD

The Texas Center for Joint Replacement now has technology to actually repair and restore damaged cartilage in patients with certain kinds of arthritis. In many cases, patients can delay the need for joint replacement surgery, and in some cases, joint replacement surgery can be avoided completely.

What does the treatment involve? Cartilage repair and restoration therapy basically consists of two treatment goals:

Recreation of normal anatomy and alignment of bone
Many patients have underlying bone mal-alignment that contributes to cartilage damage. In many cases of hip and knee arthritis, recreation of the bone's normal anatomy and alignment can delay the need for joint replacement surgery and in many instances joint replacement surgery can be avoided.

Preservation or generation of healthy, living cartilage
We have three methods by which we are able to generate healthy, living cartilage in the hip, knee or ankle.

1. Osteochondral transfer — Osteochondral transfer involves moving a portion of healthy, living cartilage with it's underlying attached bone from an area of the joint that is not being utilized, to the damaged area. This technique is used for small areas of cartilage damage.
2. Allograft implantation — This method involves the implantation of cryo-preserved cartilage allograft and bone into the damaged cartilage area. This method can be used for very large areas of cartilage damage.
3. Autologous Cartilage Implantation (ACI) — This method involves obtaining a small cartilage biopsy from the area of non-utilized cartilage. The cartilage cells are grown in cell culture in the laboratory for several weeks. This is a very technology- and labor-intensive procedure. The newly grown cartilage cells are then re-implanted into the area of cartilage damage.

• Treating Ankle Arthritis
• Partial Knee Replacements
• Cartilage Repair Techniques