Cartilage Restoration

Cartilage restoration is a group of operations that fill a localised hole in the smooth joint surface, most often in the knee, using stimulated bone marrow, transplanted plugs or lab grown cartilage cells.

The aim is less pain and swelling and a return to activity in people under about 50 with an isolated defect. It is not a treatment for widespread osteoarthritis, and the repair tissue is rarely identical to original cartilage.

What Cartilage Restoration involves

The defect is first mapped on MRI and often at a staging arthroscopy. The surgeon cuts back the damaged cartilage to a stable vertical rim and cleans the bone base. What follows depends on size. For small lesions, an awl makes holes 3 to 4 mm apart so marrow cells form a clot that matures into fibrocartilage. For medium lesions, cylinders of bone and cartilage are taken from a low load edge of the knee and pressed into matching sockets. For large lesions, cartilage cells taken at a first operation are grown for 3 to 6 weeks and then implanted on a collagen membrane glued into the defect through a small open cut. Any malalignment or ligament laxity is corrected at the same time, otherwise the repair is overloaded.

Who is a good candidate for Cartilage Restoration?

Best results are in younger, non smoking patients with one well defined defect and an otherwise healthy joint.

• A single full thickness defect after an injury or osteochondritis dissecans
• Age roughly 15 to 50 with a normal or correctable leg alignment
• Intact or repairable menisci and ligaments
• Willingness to protect the joint for many months

It is usually not the right choice if:

• Generalised osteoarthritis or defects on both facing surfaces
• Inflammatory arthritis
• Marked obesity or uncorrected bow leg alignment
• Heavy smokers, in whom repair tissue forms poorly

الخيارات التقنية

• Microfracture: For defects under about 2 square cm; simple and single stage, but results may fade after 5 years.
• Osteochondral autograft (mosaicplasty): Your own plugs for defects of 1 to 4 square cm; gives true hyaline cartilage, limited by donor site.
• Matrix assisted chondrocyte implantation: Two stage cell based repair for larger defects; needs an accredited cell laboratory.
• Osteochondral allograft: Donor bone and cartilage for very large or deep defects; availability varies.
• Scaffold augmented microfracture: A membrane placed over the drilled defect to hold the clot, a single stage middle option.

ماذا يحدث خلال علاجك

Surgery takes 45 minutes to 2 hours under general or spinal anaesthetic, with a stay of one or two nights. Cell based repair needs two operations some weeks apart. You wake with a brace and start gentle motion early, often on a continuous passive motion machine.

الإعداد لرحلتك

Plan for 7 to 10 days per stage in Istanbul. Your surgeon reviews photographs and your medical history before you book, and you meet in person the day before surgery for examination, marking and consent with a professional interpreter.

• Stop smoking and nicotine at least four weeks before and after surgery; it is the single biggest avoidable cause of wound problems
• Tell the team about every medicine and supplement you take; blood thinners, some herbal products and hormone treatment may need to be paused on your doctor's advice
• Arrange for someone to travel with you or to be reachable, and keep the first days at home free of work and lifting
• Book a changeable return flight; your surgeon confirms when you are fit to fly

التعافي والنتائج

This is the slow part. Expect touch weight bearing on crutches for 6 to 8 weeks, cycling from about 8 weeks, and impact activity no earlier than 9 to 12 months. Repair tissue keeps maturing for up to 2 years. Skipping the protected phase is the commonest reason for failure.

• Back to everyday activity: 6 to 8 weeks on crutches
• When results show: Improvement from 6 months, up to 2 years
• How long they last: Variable; many repairs last 10 years or more

سياسة السلامة والمخاطر والتنقيح

Beyond general surgical risks, the main issue is that the repair may not take or may wear out.

• Failure of the graft to bond, or gradual breakdown with return of symptoms
• Overgrowth of repair tissue causing catching, sometimes needing a trim
• Donor site pain after plug harvest
• Joint stiffness and scar tissue
• Infection or deep vein thrombosis
• Progression to arthritis despite surgery

Every written proposal arranged through Clinic-Y states what the clinic covers if a correction is needed. Ask for it before you book, not after.

Cost of Cartilage Restoration in Türkiye

Clinic-Y does not publish a single price for Cartilage Restoration, because the honest figure depends on your case. What moves it:

• Technique: microfracture is far simpler than cell culture based repair
• One stage or two stages, which also means one trip or two
• Membranes, scaffolds and laboratory fees
• Added osteotomy or ligament reconstruction

Send your photographs or reports and you receive written, all-inclusive proposals from suitable teams, side by side. Reviewing your case is free.

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