Treatments for Knee Cartilage Injuries

Cartilage damage of the knee is a common athletic injury. Surgeons from the Rothman Institute – team physicians for the Eagles – see these injuries among athletes of all ages and competitive levels. Fortunately, athletes have many treatment options.

In the past 20 years, surgeons have made advancements in repairing and restoring knee cartilage. Your orthopaedic surgeon will discuss with you the best treatment option based on tests and his or her diagnosis. Options for cartilage repair include:

• Shaving away the damaged cartilage is one of the most common treatments for cartilage defects that have not worn to the bone. Using an arthroscope inserted into the knee through a small incision, a surgeon shaves and smoothes shredded or frayed cartilage.
• Microfracture surgery is designed for larger and more severe cartilage damage. Through arthroscopic surgery, surgeons scrape the damaged area and create bleeding of the bone. Tiny fractures are then created, allowing blood vessels and bone marrow cells to come in contact with the injury. Bone marrow fills the defect, which eventually matures into scar cartilage.
• Autologous chondrocyte implantation entails removing cartilage cells from the injured knee and growing them outside the body in a lab. After about four weeks, the cells are implanted into the defect. Over time the cells grow and fill the defect with a new cartilage surface.
• Osteochondral autograft transfer involves a surgeon taking a plug of the patient's cartilage from a part of the knee that does not bear weight during walking, and transplanting it into the injured part of the knee.
• Osteochondral allograft transplantation. Surgeons take a plug of cartilage from a cadaver and implant it into the damaged area.