Abstract
The field of cartilage repair and restoration has expanded a lot in the last decade since articular cartilage problems are very common. As a consequence, many biomaterials were created in order to aid physicians in treating different osteochondral defects. Polymers like polyurethanes or PGA-hyaluronan have been frequently used as the in vivo cartilage tissue repair solution, as reported in animal studies and in clinical applications. Three different implants (Agili-C, Hyalograft C, and Chondrotissue) were used in 23 patients (6 medial and 17 lateral lesions) in this study. Patients were assessed at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months postoperative follow-up visits using the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) scores and Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS). The follow-up assessments demonstrated clinically and statistically significant improvements (p < 0.05) in all clinical outcome scores, as compared to the respective preoperative values: IKDC (48.9/77.1 for Chondrotissue implants), KOOS symptoms (58.2/71.9 for Agili-C implants), KOOS pain (54.8/66.1 for Agili-C implants), KOOS daily living activities (64.2/76.3 for Agili-C implants), KOOS sports (38.3/60.8 for Agili-C implants), KOOS quality of life (40.1/60.7 for Agili-C implants) demonstrating improvements in the case of implants previously mentioned. The overall results of this study support the successful use of the Agili-C, Chondrotissue and Hyalograft-C implants for the treatment of knee cartilage lesions.
Keywords: cartilage repair; implants; IKDC; KOOS; Agili-C; Chondrotissue; Hyalograft-C