Cartilage Restoration
Cartilage injuries can be painful and, if left untreated, can
eventually lead to arthritis. The goal of cartilage
restoration is to remove pain and prevent further damage to the
joint.
Cartilage restoration can be performed using the patient's own
cartilage or from live cartilage harvested from organ donors.
The orthopedic surgeons at BayCare Clinic are leaders in
cartilage restoration and were the first to offer cell-based
cartilage transplants in the region.
Your Own Cartilage
Using the Osteoarticular Transfer System, or OATS Surgery,
damaged cartilage in the knee is replaced with healthy cartilage
from another area of the joint. A small plug of bone and
cartilage is removed from an area with less critical need and moved
to the damaged site.
The Caritcel procedure is another option to repair cartilage
damage using the patient's own cartilage. In this procedure,
however, the patient's cartilage cells are sent to a specialized
lab. After about six weeks these cells will have grown enough to
proceed with surgery.
The Carticel procedure is most common in younger patients,
including adolescents, because of its extensive durability.
Studies show that even 10 years after the procedure, as many as 75%
to 85% of patients are still experiencing excellent results.
Carticel has been approved for use in the U.S. for about 13
years, but is still not widely available. Dr. Jon Henry, one
of BayCare Clinic's orthopedic surgeons, not only offers the
Carticel procedure but also teaches other physicians how to perform
this state-of-the-art cartilage restoration surgery.
Donor Cartilage
As an alternative to harvesting the patient's own cartilage,
cartilage restoration procedures can be performed using an
off-the-shelf product called DeNovo NT (Natural Tissue).
DeNovo Natural Tissue is harvested from organ donors, typically
under the age of 12. Juvenile cartilage has a far greater
success rate for regeneration.
By using donor cartilage, the surgery is reduced to a one-step
process and patients don't have to wait for their own cartilage to
grow. Beyond the wait time, donor cartilage removes the risk
of damaging the patient's own healthy tissue.
The orthopedic surgeons at BayCare Clinic having been using
DeNovo NT in knee repairs since 2009, shortly after the product
launched. BayCare Clinic physician Dr. Robert
Limoni is also doing some pioneering work in the use of DeNovo
NT cartilage restoration for ankle repairs.
Consultations
If you have chronic joint pain and are considering knee
replacement or ankle surgery, please call (877) 884-8796 to set up
an appointment with our office and find out if cartilage
restoration could work for you.
Providers
Jon Henry,
MD
Robert Limoni,
MD
Michael
Schnaubelt, MD
Harold J.
Schock, MD