Functional Results of Different Repair Techniques for Knee Articular Cartilage Lesions

Abstract

The articular cartilage lesions are frequent and highly affect the patient�s quality of life. Although remarkable progress in the treatment of focal lesions of articular cartilage were lately made, controversies still exist regarding the treatment options. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the preoperative and 6 months postoperative knee functional scores of patients undergoing arthroscopic repair of knee chondral lesions by: debridement, microfractures, osteochondral autograft transplantation and autologous matrix-induced chondrogenesis. Chondral reconstruction with collagen membranes and osteochondral autograft transplantation techniques showed a superior result at 6 months postoperatively compared to microfracture techniques and mechanical debridement.