Osteochondral Allograft, Microfracture, OATS, and ACI Surgery of the Knee: Cartilage Restoration
Treatments of biologic origin are best when treating knee disease or injury. This type of treatment can restore the knee to a near-normal state. Reconstruction of the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament), meniscal repair, and anatomic knee fracture repair are three kinds of biological surgical repairs that have good success with knee injuries.
Patients and orthopedists often have problems managing a full-thickness, symptomatic chondral lesion of the knee.
Injury that leads to articular cartilage cell death is well treated by restoration of the surface cells of the joint. The shiny white surface that composes all the joints in the body is the articular cartilage or surface cell layer of the joint.
Four separate treatment options are possible: Osteochondral Allograft, Microfracture, Osteoarticular transfer system (OATS), and Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation (ACI).
Click here for more on Arthroscopy of the Knee.
If the patient is young, a small lesion can be repaired with Microfracture surgery. When using this method, a pick-like tool will be used to enter the marrow of the knee multiple times under the chondral defect. These entries will stimulate the bone marrow. This causes repair tissue to be created. The repair tissue fills the chondral defect with fibrous cartilage tissue.
In this situation, the patient will use crutches for four to eight weeks. The patient must agree not to participate in sports for 6 to 12 months. Also, the patient must understand and accept that it may be eighteen months before complete freedom of pain can be expected.
The knee surface may be restored to a near-normal condition using a procedure called autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI). If the knee defect is large, this procedure is used.
Articular cartilage cells can be harvested from the healthy part of the injured knee for utilization in ACI. There are very specific criteria that must be met for this surgery to be used.
Here are the surgical indications for ACI. First, the injury must be a full-thickness, symptomatic, weight-bearing chondral injury of the femoral articular surface. Second, the patient must be physiologically young. Third, the patient must agree to cooperate with the rehabilitation process for eighteen months.
Surgery to the tibia and patella may not be successful. For this reason, insurance companies often refuse payment for surgery of this type. ACI is not a workable procedure for treating osteoarthritis. This is a condition in which two reciprocal joint surfaces are damaged. X-rays show narrowing of the joint space, as well as bone spurs. The use of a 3T MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) can assess for ACI. This procedure can help determine the proper treatment.
Click here for more on Dr. Stefan Tarlow, a leading Arizona knee surgeon. - 17273
Patients and orthopedists often have problems managing a full-thickness, symptomatic chondral lesion of the knee.
Injury that leads to articular cartilage cell death is well treated by restoration of the surface cells of the joint. The shiny white surface that composes all the joints in the body is the articular cartilage or surface cell layer of the joint.
Four separate treatment options are possible: Osteochondral Allograft, Microfracture, Osteoarticular transfer system (OATS), and Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation (ACI).
Click here for more on Arthroscopy of the Knee.
If the patient is young, a small lesion can be repaired with Microfracture surgery. When using this method, a pick-like tool will be used to enter the marrow of the knee multiple times under the chondral defect. These entries will stimulate the bone marrow. This causes repair tissue to be created. The repair tissue fills the chondral defect with fibrous cartilage tissue.
In this situation, the patient will use crutches for four to eight weeks. The patient must agree not to participate in sports for 6 to 12 months. Also, the patient must understand and accept that it may be eighteen months before complete freedom of pain can be expected.
The knee surface may be restored to a near-normal condition using a procedure called autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI). If the knee defect is large, this procedure is used.
Articular cartilage cells can be harvested from the healthy part of the injured knee for utilization in ACI. There are very specific criteria that must be met for this surgery to be used.
Here are the surgical indications for ACI. First, the injury must be a full-thickness, symptomatic, weight-bearing chondral injury of the femoral articular surface. Second, the patient must be physiologically young. Third, the patient must agree to cooperate with the rehabilitation process for eighteen months.
Surgery to the tibia and patella may not be successful. For this reason, insurance companies often refuse payment for surgery of this type. ACI is not a workable procedure for treating osteoarthritis. This is a condition in which two reciprocal joint surfaces are damaged. X-rays show narrowing of the joint space, as well as bone spurs. The use of a 3T MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) can assess for ACI. This procedure can help determine the proper treatment.
Click here for more on Dr. Stefan Tarlow, a leading Arizona knee surgeon. - 17273
About the Author:
Dr. Tarlow is a Board Certified Orthopaedic Surgeon with more than 20 years experience focusing on knee surgery. After 19 years of practice, he opened his own clinic, Advanced Knee Care, in Phoenix, Arizona. Click here to learn more about Dr. Tarlow, knee surgery in Phoenix and ACL Reconstruction in Arizona.
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