How Long It Needs For Cartilage Repair?

Last updated on 16 October 2020

Dr Tan Chyn Hong, orthopaedic surgeon at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, explains the treatments available to repair or regenerate damaged cartilage.

Cartilage is essentially a white shiny cloth that helps cushion and cover the area where the bones encounter the joints. Information technology serves as a lubricating surface besides as a shock cushion. Cartilage damage tin can exist seen as a pigsty or crater on the otherwise polish surface of the joint. If left untreated, the joint can become potent, swollen and painful. It may even progress to a phase that requires a total joint replacement with metal and plastic components.

Cartilage regeneration is a procedure that attempts to restore damaged cartilage by harnessing the body's cells to regrow or supercede lost cartilage.

Most of these treatments can exist done by arthroscopy (more commonly known as keyhole surgery), providing benefits of less pain, less haemorrhage, and faster recovery. However, some injuries will still require a traditional open incision technique where a bigger cut is made to expose the cartilage damage.

While it may not be an easy problem to care for, here are 6 treatments available to repair or regenerate damaged cartilage.

Talk to a specialist to learn more about your knee or joint pain and larn which treatments may be suitable for you.

Arthroscopic debridement

For the less severely damaged cartilage, all that is needed is a 'clean up' procedure. During this process, a video photographic camera is inserted through a modest incision and saline is introduced to wash out the joint. Washout expels whatsoever loose droppings. Debridement involves removing the damaged cartilage, and this is oftentimes performed concurrently with the washout.

Microfracture

Microfracture is a surgical procedure to treat areas of damaged cartilage. It is done to stimulate the growth of new cartilage in patients with a pocket-size area of damaged cartilage. The process is often performed within the knee articulation, only may also be used to care for other joints such as, the hip, ankle, and shoulder.

For injuries smaller than 2cm^two, microfracture is the recommended procedure. It involves puncturing small holes in the hard interface between the cartilage and the underlying bone to create channels for the bone marrow cells to surface and make full the crater. The small holes form a blood clot rich in stalk cells and eventually remodels into fibrocartilage. Fibrocartilage is a tough, dense and elastic material that helps fill in the torn role of the cartilage, hence repairing the lesion.

Autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI)

ACI is most oftentimes recommended for younger patients who have single defects larger than 2cmⁱⁱ. This is a 2-stride procedure that takes several weeks to consummate. The first procedure involves extracting healthy cartilage cells from a non-weight begetting expanse of the knee joint through minimally invasive surgery. The cells are then cloned and grown in the laboratory for 6 – viii weeks. Thereafter, a surgical procedure is done to implant the newly grown cells into the damaged area.

Articular cartilage repair: Matrix-induced autologous chondrocyte implantation (MACI)

This is a 2-step procedure that repairs the articular cartilage damage by using the patient's ain cultured cartilage cells. The first pace is similar to that in ACI where healthy cartilage cells are extracted from a non-weight bearing area of the genu. The cells are and then cultivated on a membrane. Several weeks afterwards, the membrane is placed into the defect. This helps the cartilage regenerate.

Articular cartilage is the smooth, white tissue that covers the ends of bones where they come together to form joints. The presence of cartilage in the joints helps in movement and allows bones to glide over each other with niggling friction. Daily wear and tear or an injury may event in damage to the articular cartilage.

Osteochondral autograft transplantation

In this 1-step procedure, the surgeon harvests a 'plug' of good for you tissue and os from an unaffected, non-weight bearing surface area of the patient'south own joint. The new graft is transferred to replace the impairment area. When multiple 'plugs' are used, the result is like a mosaic pattern, hence the term mosaicplasty.

Stem jail cell therapy

Stem cells, or more accurately mesenchymal stalk cells (MSC) accept been used in a research setting to repair and regenerate cartilage impairment.  MSCs are found in multiple human adult tissues including bone marrow and adipose tissues. They have the ability to differentiate into bone, cartilage, muscle, and adipose tissue. Homo clinical trials take been published showing promising results but long term studies are needed before it tin can be utilised routinely in the normal clinical setting.

Post-operative intendance

After the cartilage repair process, there is commonly a period (6 – eight weeks) during which the patient is required to apply crutches. This is to reduce pressure on the healing cartilage. The time taken for complete recovery could be upward to 3 – half dozen months.

Consult a specialist virtually your knee joint or joint pain and the treatments available.

Article contributed by Dr Tan Chyn Hong, orthopaedic surgeon at Mountain Elizabeth Novena Infirmary

References

Articular Cartilage Restoration (n.d) Retrieved September 21, 2020, from https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/handling/articular-cartilage-restoration

Microfracture Surgery for Cartilage Damage (2020, January 30) Retrieved September 21, 2020, from https://www.verywellhealth.com/microfracture-2549485

Source: https://www.mountelizabeth.com.sg/healthplus/article/6-treatments-for-cartilage-damage#:~:text=The%20time%20taken%20for%20complete,pain%20and%20the%20treatments%20available.

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