Is it possible to repair knee cartilage

There are three common knee cartilage regeneration techniques that use bleeding to spur cartilage healing:. These regeneration techniques are used to treat damaged articular cartilage. They cannot be used to treat a damaged knee meniscus. Most knee cartilage replacement surgeries are called OATs surgeries—either osteochondral autograft transplantation or osteochondral allograft transplantation surgeries. A third option is called autologous chondrocyte implantation.

Osteochondral allograft transplantation uses cartilage from outside the patient, usually from a cadaver. Autologous chondrocyte implantation relies on newly grown cartilage cells. It requires two surgeries. A surgeon preforming knee cartilage repair, regeneration, or replacement surgery may use stem cells or platelet rich plasma PRP in hopes of encouraging new cartilage cell growth. Stem cell and PRP therapies are generally considered safe.

Research regarding whether or not they are effective is ongoing. This correlation between the age of human cartilage and its location in the body aligns with how limb repair occurs in certain animals, which more readily regenerate at the furthest tips, including the ends of legs or tails.

We believe we could boost these regulators to fully regenerate degenerated cartilage of an arthritic joint. The researchers further learned that molecules called microRNA regulate this process. Not surprisingly, these microRNAs are more active in animals that are known for limb, fin or tail repair, including salamanders, zebrafish, African fresh water fish and lizards. These microRNAs are also found in humans — an evolutionary artifact that provides the capability in humans for joint tissue repair.

As in animals, microRNA activity varies significantly by its location: it was highest in ankles compared to knees and hips and higher in the top layer of cartilage compared to deeper layers of cartilage. The researchers said microRNAs could be developed as medicines that might prevent, slow or reverse arthritis. By creating a successful method…. Michigan Medicine is the only site in the state participating in the multi-center randomized study. Two surgeries are involved. First, a biopsy is performed arthroscopically, removing a sample of healthy chondrocytes from the effected knee.

In a commercial lab, those cells are expanded and multiplied many times over before being seeded onto a collagen scaffold made to fit the shape and size of the damaged area. In about three weeks, the cells have generated a new piece of cartilage on the scaffold. Then a second surgery is performed to remove the damaged knee cartilage and implant the scaffold with the new cartilage. The scaffold is bioresorbable, meaning it is made of materials that can be absorbed by the body.

In the randomized trial, patients will be assigned to one of two study arms. The other will receive a surgical procedure called microfracture. The randomization assigns two thirds of patients to the Novocart 3D group and the other third to the microfracture group.