Postoperative rehabilitation programs following articular cartilage repair procedures will vary greatly among patients and need to be individualized based on the nature of the lesion, the unique characteristics of the patient, and the type and detail of each surgical procedure. These programs are based on knowledge of the basic science, anatomy, and biomechanics of articular cartilage as well a...

Although articular hyaline cartilage typically has low potential for regeneration, numerous methods and techniques have been proposed to induce the reparation process. In our work, we used microfracture techniques in combination with intraarticular application of hyaluronic acid in rabbit knee articular cartilage defect. In comparison with the control group, after 6 and 10 weeks we observed a h...

OBJECTIVE To identify the collagen type IV (Col4) isoform in articular cartilage and to evaluate the expressions of Col4 and laminin in the pericellular matrix (PCM) in damaged cartilage and during cartilage repair. DESIGN The Col4 isoform was determined in chondrocytes isolated from 6 patients cultured up to 6 days and in 21% O2 or 1% O2, and the gene expression of Col4 α-chains was investig...

Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction has evolved significantly since the early 1900's, back when an emphasis was placed on repair and not reconstruction. Over the past century, the technique has evolved from intra-articular non anatomic reconstruction, to extra articular reconstruction, back to intra articular (performed arthroscopically), to now, the advent of anatomic insertion site rest...

Minced articular cartilage procedures are attractive surgical approaches for repairing articular cartilage, as they are 1-staged, autologous, and inserted on a carrier that can potentially be placed arthroscopically. The principle of mincing the autologous donor cartilage is to create a larger surface area for cartilage expansion. Placement on a scaffold carrier allows for a chondro-inductive a...

PURPOSE To histologically evaluate the quality of articular cartilage regeneration from the medial compartment after arthroscopic subchondral drilling followed by postoperative intra-articular injections of autologous peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs) and hyaluronic acid with concomitant medial open-wedge high tibial osteotomy (HTO) in patients with varus deformity of the knee joint. METHOD...

Normal and abnormal extracellular matrix turnover is thought to result, in part, from the balance in the expression of metalloproteinases and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs). The clinical manifestations of an imbalance in these relationships are evident in a variety of pathologic states, including osteoarthritis, deficient long-bone growth, rheumatoid arthritis, tumor invasion, ...

Introduction: Our previous study showed that porcine articular osteochondral defects at non-weight bearing area could be repaired by autologous induced bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) and scaffold, which provided the direct evidence that BMSCs could differentiate into chondrocytes and osteoblasts respectively in different local environment . This study tests the possibility of repairing porci...

Objective: The purpose of this article is to describe and recommend patient-reported outcome instruments for use in patients with articular cartilage lesions undergoing cartilage repair interventions. Methods: Nonsystematic literature search identifying measures addressing pain and function evaluated for validity and psychometric properties in patients with articular cartilage lesions. Results:...

Articular cartilage has a unique structure that makes it very different from any other tissues in the body. It has such specific roles and functions such as weight bearing with low frictional coefficient that the main bulk of its structure is based on that alone, thus making it a vascular, and thereby greatly limiting its self regeneration capabilities. This article aims to review the structure...