Patients
New quality of life by cartilage replacement
The number of cartilage damage increases more and more from accidents, sports injuries and strains. A cartilage cell transplant can reconstruct the damaged tissue and also bring back a new quality of life.
Joint cartilage
Hyaline cartilage – an essential component of our joints
The bone end surfaces of our articular joints are covered with a layer of cartilage which, thanks to its unique composition, allows for practically friction-free movement. This cartilage is known as “hyaline cartilage”.
Hyaline joint cartilage is unique in respect of its biomechanical properties. No material has yet been produced by humans to compare with joint cartilage in terms of stiffness, elasticity and friction. It is characterized by its high resistance to pressure and shock-absorbing properties. Hyaline joint cartilage consists largely of a matrix – a three-dimensional network of collagen fiber tissue, aggrecan and water. Only 1-3% of its volume is made up of cartilage cells.
Hyaline joint cartilage is unique in respect of its biomechanical properties. No material has yet been produced by humans to compare with joint cartilage in terms of stiffness, elasticity and friction. It is characterized by its high resistance to pressure and shock-absorbing properties. Hyaline joint cartilage consists largely of a matrix – a three-dimensional network of collagen fiber tissue, aggrecan and water. Only 1-3% of its volume is made up of cartilage cells. Hyaline joint cartilage is unique in respect of its biomechanical properties. No material has yet been produced by humans to compare with joint cartilage in terms of stiffness, elasticity and friction. It is characterized by its high resistance to pressure and shock-absorbing properties. Thanks to its structure, the matrix guarantees high stability under pressure and good elasticity, both at the same time. Much like a feather, when put under load, the cartilage responds by changing its shape, a shape to which it returns once the load is removed.
As the joint cartilage of an adult has no direct blood or nerve supply, it has only limited self-healing properties if damaged or subjected to change due to illness.
This can lead to major problems: Joint cartilage can’t grow back
Injuries in the knee and ankle joints are increasingly common, caused by accidents, sporting injuries and overloading. For the reasons given above, joint cartilage has only a limited ability to regenerate itself following an injury. In most cases, the defect remains as a gap in the existing cartilaginous coating. Over the years, this becomes larger, until the cartilage of the entire joint is affected by the destruction.
In some cases, the body will attempt to heal the defect, although when it does so only low-grade replacement tissue will generally be produced. With major defects in particular, this scar tissue cannot compensate over time for the load placed on the joint and it is therefore quickly worn off again, with the result that discomfort generally resurfaces in a short space of time.
When this “shock absorber” is damaged, therefore, sooner or later the patient is likely to suffer from health effects such as pain, swelling and difficulty in movement. They can then expect to experience arthrosis and stiffening of the joints over time, possibly leading to a joint replacement operation.
Learn more about
Microfracturing
This involves the knee in which the cartilage defect is located being opened up with small chisels. The opening allows blood, bone marrow and stem cells to enter the defect and fill it with scar tissue, creating a replacement or "fibro” cartilage. This replacement cartilage is however fundamentally different from the original joint cartilage both biologically and in terms of tissue structure. For example, it is far less resilient. For this reason, microfracturing should only be used for minor cartilage defects. The principle advantage of the treatment is that it is minimally invasive and only needs to be carried out once.
Autologous osteochondral cylinder transplantation
Autologous osteochondral cylinder transplantation, also known as mosaic plastics, OCT and OATS, is a procedure during which cartilage/bone cylinder is taken from a less stressed part of the joint and inserted into the defect area. This enables a larger part of the defect to be covered with hyaline joint cartilage. However, less resilient fibrocartilage forms in the gaps between the cylinders, resulting in the formation of mixed cartilage tissue. As cartilage bone punches need to be extracted from non-stressed areas, this treatment is also restricted to smaller defects. If too much donor cylinder is taken to cover the defect, cartilage defects at the extraction site can lead to painful arthrosis. Such cases are referred to as “donor site morbidity”.
Cartilage cell transplantation (ACT – Autologous Chondrocyte Transplantation)
ACT is the only procedure to enable even larger defect surfaces to be biologically reconstructed, without an increased risk of donor site morbidity. It involves the taking of a small amount of cartilage from a non load-bearing joint area by way of arthroscopy.
The cartilage extracted is taken to our GMP-compliant cleanroom laboratories, where it is prepared. The cells contained in the cartilage (chondrocytes) are isolated from their basic substance and multiplied in cell culture flasks. When the cell count required for the defect area in question is reached, the chondrocytes are seeded in a support material, where they begin to produce cartilage ground substance. The individual implant created is then ready for transplantation after precisely three weeks.
Unlike conventional ACT (in which a flap of bone is stitched over the prepared defect, beneath which the cells are then injected in an aqueous solution), once it has been punched out using special OP instruments in a size and shape matching that of the defect, the cell-populated NOVOCART® 3D carrier material can then simply be inserted into it. With this form of ACT, there is also no need for time-intensive, watertight stitching, as the carrier is fixed with just a few stitches. The result is a significant reduction in OP time with carrier-coupled ACT. The biomaterial used by TETEC has been developed especially for human cartilage cells and this possesses unique properties when compared to other biomaterials used throughout the world.
Research conducted to date with over 400 patients treated with ACT using our innovative biomaterial shows in particular that a significant reduction has been achieved in complication rates, when compared to the conventional form of ACT – and with, in most cases, equally good clinical results. The procedure itself is much faster and the rehabilitation phase shorter, with the result that in recent years, the matrix-coupled form of ACT using NOVOCART® 3D has become increasingly popular.
Follow-up treatment
With defects in the femoral condyle, patients should rest in bed for 24 hours after the operation. The treated leg should only be subject to a partial load of up to 20 kg for a period of six weeks. The load should then be increased by 20 kg every 14 days. It may also take up to 12 weeks until full weight can be placed on the leg. Once this period is over, sporting activities such as swimming, bicycle riding and walking are permitted, although the patient should not participate in any jumping or running sports for one year following the operation.
With defects of the kneecap/its femoropatellar groove, full weight can immediately be placed on the leg provided the patient has rested for 24 hours following the operation. They must then wear a splint for ten weeks, which limits bending of the knee joint to 50°. The degree of bend is then raised by 20°every 14 days. The patient should not participate in any high-risk or contact sports for one year following the operation.
The follow-up regimes shown are recommendations based on clinical experience gathered in recent years. Naturally, your doctor can also suggest a personal follow-up treatment schedule for you.
Are you interested in a cartilage cell transplant?
You can obtain further information and details about the treatment from your cartilage specialist. Please discuss with your doctor whether a cartilage cell transplant using the ACT procedure is an option for you. |
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Treatment
Cartilage damage in the knee and ankle joint considerably increase the risk of the degeneration of the affected tissue.
Early treatment is required if these degenerative processes are to be avoided, treatments capable of reconstructing the damaged tissue.
Depending on the size of the cartilage defect, a range of treatment options are available in knee and ankle joint interventions (microfracturing, mosaic plastics, ACT).
ACT is a cell-based procedure used in regenerative medicine, characterized essentially by three steps:
To ensure that the cultivated cells are capable of regenerating the corresponding tissue, it is extremely important to check their quality (cell phenotype) immediately prior to transplantation. For this reason, for every implant we perform validated cellular and molecular biological quality controls using state-of-the-art analytical methods, informing the treating physician in writing about the quality of the cells to be transplanted. Our development team has been honored with a prestigious science award for outlining the scientific principles of a newly developed method for significantly increasing the quality of transplanted cartilage cells. This is our way of ensuring that you receive only vital and functioning cell implants from us and your doctor.
Are you interested in a cartilage cell transplant?
You can obtain further information and details about the treatment from your cartilage specialist. Please discuss with your doctor whether a cartilage cell transplant using the ACT procedure is an option for you. |
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