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Regeneration of Articular Cartilage of the Knee: Basic Concepts

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Articular Cartilage Defects of the Knee

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Abstract

There are several different techniques available for the treatment of full-thickness defects of knee cartilage: (1) cartilage reparative strategies such as aggressive debridement and bone marrow stimulation (drilling, microfractures); (2) cartilage restorative techniques such as fresh osteochondral allograft transplantation, osteochondral autograft transplantation (mosaicplasty); (3) autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) or matrix-induced ACI (MACI); (4) Some biological methods such as gene-activated matrices (GAM) from chitosan and gelatine, articular cartilage paste grafting technique, scaffolds, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), platelet-rich plasma (PRP), growth factors (GFs), bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), magnetically labelled synovium-derived cells (M-SDCs), and elastic-like polypeptide gels, pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs), and stem cell-coated titanium implants. The choice of the optimal treatment technique remains of great importance and represents one of the major responsibilities of the orthopaedic surgeon in order to achieve optimal results. ACI, osteochondral autograft transplantation, matrix-induced ACI (MACI), and microfracture have shown similar results in the literature.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, “La Paz” University Hospital-IdiPaz, Paseo de la Castellana 261, 28046, Madrid, Spain

    E. Carlos Rodríguez-Merchán

  2. School of Medicine , “Autónoma” University, Madrid, Spain

    E. Carlos Rodríguez-Merchán

  3. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, “12 de Octubre” University Hospital, Avenida de Córdoba s/n, 28041, Madrid, Spain

    Hortensia De la Corte-García

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  1. E. Carlos Rodríguez-Merchán
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Correspondence to E. Carlos Rodríguez-Merchán .

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  1. Capitan Blanco Argibay 21-G-3A, Madrid, 28029, Spain

    E. Carlos Rodrìguez-Merchán

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Rodríguez-Merchán, E.C., De la Corte-García, H. (2012). Regeneration of Articular Cartilage of the Knee: Basic Concepts. In: Rodrìguez-Merchán, E. (eds) Articular Cartilage Defects of the Knee. Springer, Milano. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-2727-5_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-2727-5_1

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