Articular Cartilage Lesions

Abstract

Brian J. Cole and M. Mike Malek, editors. New York: Springer; 2004. 336 pages. $195.00. This informative textbook aims to provide a comprehensive, up-to-date, practical guide for the assessment and management of patients with articular cartilage lesions and meniscal deficiency. The book focuses mainly on the evaluation of patients with focal articular cartilage defects and the treatment of those defects by microfracture, autologous chondrocyte implantation, autologous osteochondral grafts, or allografts, but almost every modality of treatment currently in use for the treatment of focal articular cartilage defects is discussed. In the Preface, the editors note that their mission was to help the reader develop a framework to be used for the assessment and management of patients with articular cartilage lesions and meniscal deficiency. The book is divided into three parts. Part I, Background and Patient Assessment, includes chapters on the structure of normal articular cartilage, the pathophysiology and biochemical mechanisms involved in the early and later stages of articular cartilage degeneration, an algorithm of options for the treatment of articular cartilage defects, and the nonoperative treatment of articular cartilage degeneration and osteoarthritis with NSAIDs, glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate, and hyaluronan. Part I also includes an excellent …