Cartilage (hyaline and articular) is a thin tissue that covers the boney surfaces inside our joints. This thin tissue helps preserve the surfaces, which normally lasts a life-time, but is susceptible to damage.

Cartilage can be damaged through sports injuries, accidents, or normal activity.

It may start as a small defect, but it will enlarge with time until all cartilage is worn away, leading to bone-on-bone arthritis. These defects can be treated with cartilage repair.

Cartilage repair includes various biologic and surgical techniques such as MACI, OATS and autograft & allograft transplantation which are designed to heal damage by replacing the defect with new tissue.

The type of procedure depends upon the size and location of the defect, with larger defects treated using MACI or Allograft transplantation, which require open incisions. Smaller defects in specific locations can be treated with OATS, which is a less invasive procedure.

If bone-on-bone arthritis develops, cartilage repair is no longer an option and thusly, may be considered for joint replacement surgery. Additionally, since repair can have a long recovery time of up to one year (in some cases) before any high-impact activity to the joints can be resumed, it is mainly performed in younger, active patients (16 to 45 years of age) where even partial joint replacement is an unnecessary option.

Patients may spend 1-3 days in a hospital or surgical center and then mobilize using crutches for up to 8 weeks. Subsequent rehabilitation will be dependent upon recovery progress and the physician and physical therapists assessments.

Depending on the type of procedure, patients may resume high-impact activities in 6-18 months. Keeping in mind that the new tissue needs time to grow and strengthen; more so than typical procedures because it is a crucial load-bearing element of joint function and early activity can delay recovery, or even destroy the tissue.