Our specialized team of physicians offers several options for regeneration, repair, or replacement of damaged articular cartilage.
Autograft/Allograft Repair of Cartilage
- Autograft is a bone or tissue that is taken from a part of a person's own body and transplanted into another. Often, surgeons will use a person's own hamstring tendon to repair a damaged anterior cruciate ligament. Autograft cartilage/bone may also be used in cartilage restoration procedures.
- Allograft tissue is taken from another person. Allograft tissue transplants are not rejected by the body, as with organ transplants, so it is not necessary to use drugs to suppress the body’s immune response. Allograft cartilage/bone may also be used in cartilage restoration procedures.
Microfracture
- a new, state-of-the-art procedure for injured or damaged cartilage
A microfracture is a technique used to get the body to repair itself and regrow the area of cartilage loss. During a microfracture, physicians clear off the loose pieces of cartilage and debris from the area where the cartilage is missing and then make small holes or punctures in the bone. Those holes communicate with the bone marrow where the stem cells are located. These cells have the ability to regenerate many of the tissues in our body. If placed in the knee, they turn into cartilage cells and can fill in a hole in the cartilage.
Platelet Rich Plasma and Bio-Cartilage
– new procedures for injured or damaged cartilage
Platelet Rich Plasma injection is a new treatment orthopedic physicians are beginning to use in the care of inflamed or injured cartilage. PRP can be injected into an injured area to aid in healing.
BioCartilage is developed from allograft tissue, which is donated from another person, and it functions as a support that your body’s cells can attach to and produce new cartilage tissue in damaged area. Your surgeon uses this tissue support in conjunction with a microfracture procedure as a way to provide attachment sites for the bone marrow cells. These cells will penetrate through the access channels to aid in the healing process.
