Cartilage Restoration
Enjoy more freedom of movement after an injury to your joint’s cartilage—the soft lining on the ends of bones. Cartilage restoration triggers the regrowth of this cushioning, a type of tissue that lets your knee, hip, or another joint flex painlessly. Stay close to your home for this innovative procedure, available here in Torrance from Lundquist Orthopedic Institute.
Benefits of Cartilage Restoration
Cartilage doesn’t regrow or heal on its own. That’s why you may need treatment to help your joint move smoothly after damage to this tissue. Restoration surgery can:
- Relieve pain
- Prevent osteoarthritis (more cartilage breakdown)
- Delay or prevent joint replacement surgery, which exchanges an arthritic hip, knee, shoulder, or ankle for an implant
What to Expect
Before treatment, your surgeon may make a small incision over your joint and insert an arthroscope (thin tube with a light and camera). Using the camera and small surgical tools, the doctor may:
- Gather detailed information about your injury
- Remove any loose, painful fragments of bone or tissue
- Take healthy cartilage cells, if needed, to regrow new tissue in a lab
Cartilage Restoration Procedures
Depending on your injury, your surgeon may take one of these approaches to restore cartilage:
- Cartilage cell transplant (autologous chondrocyte implantation) – Sends a small piece of your healthy tissue to a lab, where it grows new cartilage that’s placed back in your joint
- Cartilage plug – Repairs an injury with healthy cartilage and bone from either a:
- Part of your joint that doesn’t bear weight (autograft transplant)
- Donor (allograft transplant)
- Microfracture – Makes tiny holes in a bone to draw blood, which brings new, healing cells to the joint’s surface to regrow cartilage
After any procedure, take part in personalized rehabilitation to gradually regain the full use of your joint.
