Recent advances and future trends in articular cartilage repair

Abstract

Hyaline cartilage is an absolute necessity for a painless and a fully functional joint. A chondral or an osteochondral injury that doesn’t heal or doesn’t undergo a timely repair, eventually lead to arthritis. Many surgical options have been advocated and practiced in last three decades to treat the chondral and the osteochondral lesions. While some of the techniques are now available with the long term results, many techniques have evolved further to produce better results and lesser complications. Newer technologies have also been developed and they are looking promising. In 2020, it is timely to do a literature review of all the techniques suggested and practiced in last three decades and analyze their current status. It is also prudent to envisage, what can we expect in near future from the recent technologies on cartilage repair. The purpose of this paper is to update about the recent status of the established procedures and to review the future trends in cartilage repair.