Knee Cartilage Repair and Regeneration

The popularity of knee cartilage repair and regeneration is on the rise, and with good reason. Loss or erosion of articular cartilage as a result of wear has long caused its sufferers pain, weakness and joint dysfunction and, if left untreated, often progresses to symptomatic arthritis. The reason is that the body has no capability to grow new articular cartilage on its own, making surgery a necessary course in order to restore function and reduce pain experienced in the joint. How does knee cartilage repair and regeneration surgery achieve this end?

Articular cartilage lines the ends of the bones where they meet at the joints and provides a soft cushion that allows for smooth and frictionless movement. Loss or damage to the cartilage may not be able to be repaired naturally, but several techniques are commonly used  to restore cartilage and potentially delay or even avoid knee replacement surgery. These procedures can use tissues taken from the patient’s own body, a donor’s body, or grown within a lab to create cartilage-like tissues that can be formed around the joint and perform the same function as normal healthy cartilage.

One technique that is commonly employed in knee cartilage repair is the Matrix-induced Autologous Chondrocyte implantation (MACI) surgery. During this procedure, a small sample of healthy cartilage is removed from the knee, the cells are isolated and grown in a lab, and then shaped onto a patch of collagen. This patch is then implanted onto the affected joint and from there grows into new, healthy and stable cartilage repair tissue. There is no danger of tissue rejection during the procedure, as the cells come from the patient's own body and the surgery may even stimulate the further growth of cartilage in the joint.

Almost 800,000 knee replacement surgeries are performed each year in the United States alone. How many of these surgeries could have been avoided had these conditions first been treated by knee cartilage repair/regeneration? The first step then becomes addressing the issue before the knee degrades any further, and the only remaining option becomes a much more intensive surgery and lengthy rehabilitation.