| Page 2 of 2 < |
Techniques for Repairing Knee Cartilage
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Advantages: Normal hyaline cartilage is used, with a relatively short recovery (four to eight months). Relatively cost-effective, and long-term durability is good.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]Disadvantages: The surgery is best for fixing smaller defects (less than 4 centimeters). Norman Marcus, a Springfield orthopedic surgeon who performs several types of cartilage repair surgeries, describes this as "robbing Peter to pay Paul."
Success rate: 75 to 95 percent up to 10 years.
Osteochondral Allograft Transplantation: Surgeons take a plug of cartilage from a cadaver.
Advantages: Preferred for deep, large defects.
Disadvantages: Large incision necessary, potential for disease transmission from cadaver tissue, cartilage cells must be transferred quickly from cadavers, long waiting times for tissue, high cost, declining success rate over time and slow recovery (more than 12 months).
Success rate: 95 percent after five years, 71 percent after 10 years, 66 percent after 20 years.
-- Elizabeth Agnvall
SOURCES: Success rates and other details from Kai Mithoefer.
* Surgical success rates generally reflect improvement in pain and activity levels.
