CARTILAGE REPAIR

Injuries to the articular cartilage covering your bones are unlikely to heal themselves. To address this problem, board-certified orthopedic surgeons at AZ Ortho in Scottsdale, Arizona, offer advanced forms of cartilage repair and restoration. These surgical treatments support new cartilage growth, easing pain and restoring joint function. To find out more about cartilage repair and how it could benefit you, call AZ Ortho or book an appointment online today.

What is cartilage repair?

You might need to undergo cartilage repair surgery if you damage your joints. Cartilage is a tough kind of tissue with protective properties. Some forms also help to stabilize or cushion the joints. Cartilage repair typically involves articular cartilage defects. Articular cartilage coats and protects the ends of your bones. Most treatments use surgical cartilage restoration techniques that encourage new tissue growth. What conditions are treatable with cartilage repair? The AZ Ortho team uses cartilage repair to treat conditions such as:

• Chondral defects and lesions
• Osteochondritis dissecans (OCD)
• Avascular necrosis (osteonecrosis)
• Osteochondral defects

Damaged cartilage is hard to treat conservatively. It has a limited blood supply that makes natural healing slow or impossible. If you suffer cartilage damage and the injury won’t heal, the AZ Ortho team can perform a cartilage repair procedure.

What does cartilage repair involve?

Several cartilage repair techniques are available, including: Debridement or chondroplasty

This procedure involves removing loose cartilage fragments from the joint. In some cases, your provider might inject bone marrow cells taken from elsewhere in your body to encourage healing.

Microfracture surgery

Microfracture surgery is an arthroscopic bone marrow stimulation procedure. Your surgeon creates small holes in the damaged tissue to generate cartilage repair. It can treat modest areas of cartilage damage and is useful for short-term treatment.

Osteochondral autograft transplantation surgery (OATS)

For the OATS or autologous osteochondral transfer (AOT) procedure, your surgeon takes articular cartilage from a healthy, non-weight-bearing part of your knee. They then transplant the cartilage to the injured area. Using your own tissue makes a long-lasting repair that’s suitable for patients with sports injuries.

Osteochondral allograft transplantation

This procedure is similar to OATS but involves using donated tissue instead of your own cartilage. It’s suitable for large areas of damage and conditions with extensive bone involvement, such as osteochondritis dissecans and avascular necrosis.

Matrix-induced autologous chondrocyte implantation (MACI)

MACI is one of the leading techniques for knee cartilage repair. Your AZ Ortho surgeon takes a small sample of your healthy cartilage and sends it to a specialized lab where they grow the cells and seed them onto a collagen patch. During surgery, the team shapes the patch and glues it into the cartilage defect. In time, the patch grows new, healthy cartilage.

To learn more about cartilage repair and restoration, call AZ Ortho or book an appointment online today.