Island Orthopaedic Consultants
Sports Medicine & Surgery
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-Knee -Ankle -Shoulder -Elbow -Hip -Wrist Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Posterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Arthroscopic Stabilisation Of The Unstable Shoulder Acromio-Clavicular Joint Arthritis Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Repair |
Joint Cartilage Injury Joint cartilage is smooth and helps reduce the friction between the bone while walking. It can be damaged in an acute injury like a twisting injury, a fall on the knee joint, or a direct kick to the knee etc. It can also be damaged as a result of overuse or excessive stress on one side of the joint due to malalignment. Malalignment usually occurs in bow-legged knees. Cartilage, like our tooth do not grow back once damaged. Therefore in joints that are significantly damaged, the uneven surface creates much pain and swelling due to the increased friction. In milder cases, joint lubrication can relieve most of the pain. The joint lubricant is injected directly into the knee joint and can be done in the clinic. The pain relieve can last for as long as two years but in severe joint damage, results can be poor. Joint Lubricant
If there is a larger cartilage defect, the defect can be covered up by several methods, One simple, inexpensive and quick method is mosaicplasty. This procedure is akin to covering up your kitchen floor with mosaic tiles. The ‘mosaic tiles’ used here are harvested from the edge of the same joint which is not involved in joint movement. Just like our spare-parts shop. MOSAICPLASTY Mosaicplasty involves repairing a full thickness cartilage defect with pegs of cartilage harvested from non articulating regions of the knee. The process is similar to laying down mosaic tiles on your kitchen floor.
Cartilage defect Defect Covered With Cartilage Pegs
Another method of covering up the defect is to perform ACT or autologous cartilage transplantation. This involves culturing cartilage cells in the laboratory and implanting it to the defect. The cost of this procedure is high.
Cartilage Culture Injecting cultured cells into defect
Repaired cartilage defect In severe and widespread damage of the cartilage, and if the patient is older, knee replacement may be a better option. Knee replacement can be done for part or for the whole knee. |
