• Thomas R Niethammer, Daniel Altmann, Martin Holzgruber, Mehmet F Gülecyüz, Susan Notohamiprodjo, Andrea Baur-Melnyk, and Peter E Müller.
• Department of Orthopaedics, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany; Department of Radiology, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany. Electronic address: thomas.niethammer@med.uni-muenchen.de.
• Arthroscopy. 2020 Jul 1; 36 (7): 1928-1938.

PurposeTo evaluate the long-term clinical and radiologic outcomes of third-generation autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) for the treatment of focal cartilage defects of the knee.MethodsData capture was carried out between 2004 and 2018. Included were patients with cartilage defects of the knee joint with an International Cartilage Repair Society grade of III or higher treated with third-generation ACI who had a minimum follow-up period of 10 years. International Knee Documentation Committee scores and assessment of pain at rest and on movement using visual analog scale scores were captured preoperatively and at 6 months postoperatively, as well as annually thereafter. In addition, we performed magnetic resonance imaging examinations in 13 cases after 10 years. The MOCART (Magnetic Resonance Observation of Cartilage Repair Tissue) score was used to evaluate the ACI cartilage.ResultsA total of 54 patients met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 30 reached the 10-year follow-up point and were included in this assessment. At 10 years postoperatively, all clinical outcome parameters showed a statistically significant improvement compared with the preoperative situation, with a responder rate of 70%. The average MOCART (Magnetic Resonance Observation of Cartilage Repair Tissue) score after 10 years was 59.2 points (range, 20-100 points), and over 60% of the evaluated patients showed good integration of the implant at 10 years postoperatively.ConclusionsThe clinical and radiologic findings of this study show that third-generation ACI is a suitable and effective option in the treatment of full-thickness cartilage defects of the knee. At 10 years after surgery, third-generation ACI shows stable results and leads to significant improvement in all clinical outcome parameters. Despite these results, revision surgery after third-generation ACI is common and was needed in 23% of patients in this study.Level Of EvidenceLevel IV, therapeutic case series.Copyright © 2020 Arthroscopy Association of North America. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

28 keywords...

hide…