• Jakob Ackermann, Alexandre Barbieri Mestriner, Nehal Shah, and Andreas H Gomoll.
• Sports Medicine Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
• Arthroscopy. 2019 Aug 1; 35 (8): 2436-2444.

PurposeTo accurately evaluate the effects of bone marrow aspirate (BMA) augmentation on osteochondral allograft (OCA) integration on early postoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using the comprehensive Osteochondral Allograft MRI Scoring System (OCAMRISS).MethodsThis imaging study compared patients who underwent OCA transplantation with and without BMA augmentation for the treatment of focal osteochondral defects in the knee performed by a single surgeon between July 2013 and July 2017. Patients were excluded if they underwent implantation of premade plugs, had an overlapping OCA configuration ("snowman" technique), or did not undergo MRI at 6 months postoperatively. Patients were matched by lesion location, lesion size, age, and body mass index, as well as whether they underwent previous surgical procedures. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation, the independent t test, the Mann-Whitney U test, and the χ2 test.ResultsA total of 58 patients (29 per group) were included in this study, with an average age of 36.4 ± 10.1 years and mean body mass index of 28.6 ± 5.1. The mean size of the analyzed OCA plugs was 3.3 ± 1 cm2. At an average imaging follow-up of 5.6 ± 1 months, 86.2% of the grafts had achieved osseous integration at the graft-host junction and 75.9% did not show any cystic changes in the subchondral bone. No difference in any OCAMRISS subscale was seen comparing OCAs with and without BMA augmentation (P > .05). Specifically, osseous integration and subchondral cyst formation were comparable between groups (P = .128 and P = .539, respectively).ConclusionsOCAs showed excellent osseous integration at the graft-host junction on 6-month postoperative MRI. The treatment of OCAs with autogenous BMA did not result in superior imaging outcomes when analyzed using the OCAMRISS.Level Of EvidenceLevel III, case-control study.Copyright © 2019 Arthroscopy Association of North America. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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