Background: Several methods are used to treat focal chondral and osteochondral defects on the weightbearing surfaces of synovial joints. Autologous osteochondral grafting is 1 option used to replace ...hyaline cartilage in the defect.
Hypothesis: Mosaicplasty is effective in returning elite athletes to participation in sports.
Study Design: Case series; Level of evidence, 4.
Methods: In 3 institutes, 354 of 383 patients were followed from 2 to 17 years (average, 9.6 years). The results of mosaicplasty were prospectively evaluated at 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, and yearly with patient-reported outcomes measures and radiographs.
Results: Slight or moderate degenerative changes (Fairbank grade I or II) were detected preoperatively in 27% of the cases and in 36% of the cases at follow-up. Fairbank grade III changes were observed in 5 cases. An average radiographic deterioration of 0.32 on the Fairbank scale was detected (preoperative, 0.34; postoperative, 0.66). Good to excellent results were found in 91% of femoral mosaicplasties, 86% of tibial, and 74% of patellofemoral; 92% of talar mosaicplasties had similar results (Hannover ankle scoring system). Patellofemoral pain related to graft harvest was observed in 5% of cases. Second-look arthroscopies revealed good, congruent, gliding surfaces of the transplants and acceptable fibrocartilage coverage of donor sites in 16 patients and degenerative changes of the transplants in 5 cases. Histological evaluation revealed good graft incorporation in all 11 cases. Two infections and 3 deep venous thromboses occurred.
Conclusion: Despite a higher rate of preoperative osteoarthritic changes in the athletic patients, clinical outcomes of mosaicplasty in this group demonstrated a success rate similar to that of less athletic patients. Higher motivation resulted in better subjective evaluation. Slight deterioration in results occurred during the 9.6-year follow-up; thus, autologous osteochondral mosaicplasty may be a useful alternative for the treatment of 1.0- to 4.0-cm2 focal chondral and osteochondral lesions in competitive athletes.
Summary Background Efficacious treatment of chondral and osteochondral defects of weightbearing articular surfaces is a daily challenge in musculoskelatal care. Autogenous osteochondral ...transplantation represents a possible solution for creating hyaline or hyaline-like repair in the affected area that has a noninflammatory pathoorigin. This paper discusses the experimental background and over 15 years of clinical experience with autologous osteochondral mosaicplasty. Methods Several series of animal studies and subsequent clinical practice of over 1,000 mosaicplasty patients were assessed to confirm the survival of transplanted hyaline cartilage and fibrocartilage filling of donor sites located on relatively less weightbearing surfaces, as well as donor-site disturbances and morbidity. Histological evaluations of dog and horse implantations as well as several series of clinical evaluations in the human material are summarized in this paper. Clinical scores, different types of imaging techniques, second-look arthroscopies, histological examination of biopsy samples, and cartilage stiffness measurements were used to evaluate the clinical outcomes and quality of the transplanted cartilage. Results Analysis of clinical scores has shown good to excellent results in 92% of patients with femoral condylar implantations, 87% of tibial resurfacements, 74% of patellar and/or trochlear mosaicplasties and 93% of talar procedures. Longterm donor-site complaints measured by the Bandi score were minor and present only in 3% of patients. 81 out of the 98 control arthroscopies represented congruent and good gliding surfaces and histologically proven survival of the transplanted hyaline cartilage as well as fibrocartilage covering of the donor sites. Complications in the entire patient group were four deep infections and four deep venous thromboses. In nearly 8% of the cases excessive intraarticular bleeding was observed in the early postoperative period, as a minor complication of the procedure. Multicentric, comparative, prospective evaluation of 413 arthroscopic resurfacing procedures (mosaicplasty, Pridie drilling, abrasion arthroplasty and microfracture cases in homogenised subgroups) demonstrated that mosaicplasty resulted in favourable clinical outcome in the long-term follow-up compared to other three techniques. Durability of the early results was confirmed in long-term evaluations both of the femoral condylar implantations and talar mosaicplasties. Conclusions According to our encouraging results in this increasingly large series, supported by similar findings from other centres, it seems that autologous osteochondral mosaicplasty may be an alternative for small and medium-sized focal chondral and osteochondral defects of weightbearing surfaces of the knee and other weightbearing synovial joints.
The successful treatment of chondral and osteochondral defects of the weight-bearing surfaces is a challenge for orthopaedic surgeons. Autologous osteochondral transplantation is one method that can ...be used to create hyaline or hyaline-like repair in the defect area. This paper describes the results after ten years of clinical experience with autologous osteochondral mosaicplasty.
Clinical scores, imaging techniques, arthroscopy, histological examination of biopsy samples, and cartilage stiffness measurements were used to evaluate the clinical outcomes and quality of the transplanted cartilage in 831 patients undergoing mosaicplasty.
According to these investigations, good-to-excellent results were achieved in 92% of the patients treated with femoral condylar implantations, 87% of those treated with tibial resurfacing, 79% of those treated with patellar and/or trochlear mosaicplasties, and 94% of those treated with talar procedures. Long-term donor-site disturbances, assessed with use of the Bandi score, showed that patients had 3% morbidity after mosaicplasty. Sixty-nine of eighty-three patients who were followed arthroscopically showed congruent gliding surfaces, histological evidence of the survival of the transplanted hyaline cartilage, and fibrocartilage filling of the donor sites. Complications of the surgery included four deep infections and thirty-six painful postoperative hemarthroses.
On the basis of these promising results and those of other similar studies, autologous osteochondral mosaicplasty appears to be an alternative for the treatment of small and medium-sized focal chondral and osteochondral defects of the weight-bearing surfaces of the knee and other weight-bearing synovial joints.
After the increasingly common anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) procedure in competitive athletes, rehabilitation is crucial for facilitating a timely return to sports (RTS) and ...preventing re-injury. This pilot study investigates the patient-reported outcomes of postoperative rehabilitation in competitive athletes, comparing supervised rehabilitation (SVR) and home-based rehabilitation (HBR).
After ACLR, 60 (out of 74 screened) athletes were recruited and equally divided into HBR and SVR groups using non-probability convenience sampling, with each group comprising 15 males and 15 females. The rehabilitation outcomes in the respective groups were evaluated at 8 months using measures (Tegner Activity Scale TAS, International Knee Documentation Committee subjective knee form IKDC-SKF, ACL Return to Sport after Injury ACL-RSI) and objective parameters (isometric muscle strength, hamstring/quadricep asymmetry). RTS was evaluated at 9 months, with ACL re-injury rates recorded approximately 6 months post-RTS.
Both groups exhibited decreased TAS scores (HBR: 8 to 6, SVR: 8 to 7), with the SVR group demonstrating superior postoperative IKDC-SKF scores (81.82 vs. 68.43) and lower ACL-RSI scores (49.46 vs. 55.25). Isometric and isokinetic muscle strength, along with asymmetry values, was higher in the SVR group 8 months post-ACLR (
< 0.05). The SVR group showed a higher RTS rate to the same level (76.6% vs. 53.3%), while the re-injury rate was the same in both the rehabilitation groups (3.3%).
Although both rehabilitation approaches yielded comparable outcomes, SVR may demonstrate some superior biomechanical improvements in athletes, resulting in a higher RTS rate. However, the psychological outcomes and re-injury rates did not significantly differ between the groups, emphasizing the need to address individual psychological needs during rehabilitation. Further investigation is recommended with a larger sample size to address the differences of gender among competitive athletes.
