Guest guest Posted December 30, 2009 Report Share Posted December 30, 2009 There is nothing proven yet to regrow your cartilage. If you have a small area of cartilage loss, surgeons can take cartilage and attempt to patch the area and provide some relief. If you have overall degeneration of cartilage, joint space loss, varus or valgus deformities, joint replacement will replace those worn surfaces with components designed for the forces we put on them. Looking into new procedures is always encouraged but be realistic. Alisa Curry PT DPT Site Moderator Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 30, 2009 Report Share Posted December 30, 2009 I looked into allografts, replacing knee cartilage with cadaver cartilage. I was in touch with the top surgeon in Belgium. At that time, 2007, it would have taken over 6 months recovery and there was a 20% failure rate. Too much for me. There are companies that are developing fake cartilage (Carticel is one, I think), but they have not had promising or any results at the time I investigated them. There seems to be some potential for Platelet Rich Plasma for some injuries, like ACL. There is video about this on You Tube, Dr. Alan Mishra in Palo Alto is developing it. They are starting to inject it into places they do surgery, hoping it will cause cartilage to grow back. I asked my surgeon, Dr. Coon, who is now doing knee resurfacing and feels it is a viable alternative to knee replacement, about Platelet Rich Plasma. He said he does not use it and there is a lot of " hype " about it that is unwarranted. There are some other techniques, micro fracture. etc. but none that I know will produce good results for cartilage growth. Hollie > > There is nothing proven yet to regrow your cartilage. If you have a small area of cartilage loss, surgeons can take cartilage and attempt to patch the area and provide some relief. If you have overall degeneration of cartilage, joint space loss, varus or valgus deformities, joint replacement will replace those worn surfaces with components designed for the forces we put on them. Looking into new procedures is always encouraged but be realistic. > > Alisa Curry PT DPT > Site Moderator > Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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