Cartilage Repair, Transplants and Restoration. 
​What is it?

There are a lot of terms you will see when reading about cartilage damage.  We're here to break it down for you so you have a clear understanding of what options we have for you with cartilage damage.

Key Terms
Cartilage Restoration:  The process of restoring cartilage, regardless of technique
Cartilage Transplant: The process of taking cartilage from your own tissue or from a cadaver and implanting it into a defect
Autograft: Your own tissue
Allograft:  Someone else's tissue
​

Autograft Cartilage Transplants

Matrix-induced Autologous Chondroctye Implantatation (MACI)

A cartilage defect then repaired with an autograft transplant (MACI)

Matrix-induced Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation (MACI): A small piece of cartilage is removed in a surgery, sent to a lab where the chondrocytes (cartilage cells) are cultured and regrown.  The cells are then sent back to the surgeon, who implants them into the defect.  

Osteochondral Autograft Transplant

An Osteochondral Autograft (OATS) Procedure, where a piece of cartilage and bone are removed from one area and transplanted to the damaged area

​Osteochondral Allograft Transplant: A small piece of bone and cartilage are taken as a whole from one area of the knee that does not articulate.  We take a piece of cartilage with a piece of its underlying bone to create a "osteochondral plug."  We then move these pieces and place them into the defect. By maintaining the blood supply and underlying bony support to the cartilage, this helps the transplant integrate.  ​

Allograft Cartilage Transplants

Osteochondral Allograft Transplant

This procedure uses a cadaver to harvest a bone plug with overlying cartilage that is CT and/or MRI matched to the contours of your knee.  Once a cadaver is size matched to you, the graft is ordered and then implanted as quickly as possible.  Once the "match" occurs, it is imperative to use the graft quickly as the cartilage cells begin to become less useful after a few weeks.

A bone plug is taken from a cadaver tissue that matches the size of the defect

The osteochondral plug harvested from the cadaver is then placed into the defect in the knee.