Recent Advances in Cartilage Repair (ICL 3)

Articular cartilage possesses low intrinsic healing property due to its lack of vascularity and progenitor cells. Thus, damage to the hyaline cartilage may lead to a progressive degeneration of the joint and eventually to osteoarthritis (OA). In the last years, different surgical techniques have been introduced in the clinical practice to overcome this issue. Bone marrow stimulation, for example, is a widely known method to allow cell invasion from the bloodstream to the site of damage. However, the reparative tissue has different morphological and biomechanical properties when compared to the native cartilage. In particular, the newly formed fibrocartilage has a low amount of proteoglycans and a higher concentration of type I collagen. This different matrix composition leads to a decrease in the mechanical strength and to a poor integration of the reparative tissue with the native cartilage