Cartilage Restoration Knee Surgery
Our experienced New York orthopedic knee surgeons can explain your options
Cartilage in your knee serves a very important role. This rubber-like, connective tissue serves as a shock absorber between the bones in your knee. When your knee cartilage becomes injured or deteriorated, walking and performing other physical activities can become painful. Knee pain due to cartilage damage in your knee is common. That doesn’t mean you have to live with this pain.
Our board-certified, fellowship-trained, New York orthopedic knee surgeons at IMC Bone Doc have years of experience performing these surgical knee injury treatments. Overall, our doctors at Island Musculoskeletal Care have more than 100 years of combined medical experience. That’s why you can trust us to perform your knee injury medical procedure with the skill and expertise you expect and deserve.
Schedule an appointment today with one of our New York orthopedic knee surgeons. Our medical clinic has seven offices conveniently located in greater New York City and Long Island. We often have immediate appointments available the same day. Best of all, you can often receive all your medical care at the same convenient location.
What are common types of cartilage restoration knee surgery?
Knee cartilage restoration surgery can cover a wide range. Some of the most common surgical procedures we perform include:
- Patellar Tendon Repair
- Knee Ligament Reconstruction
- Cartilage Replacement
- Cartilage Repair and Transplantation
- OATS
These are just a few of the cartilage restoration procedures we often perform for patients. Learn more about whether one of these procedures or another one might be right for your knee cartilage injury. Each one of our offices is equipped with an MRI machine and other, state-of-the-art equipment in order to better diagnose exactly what’s wrong with your knee.
Trust our NYC knee surgeons to perform your cartilage restoration operation
You have lived with knee pain long enough. If you have cartilage damage in your knee, contact us and schedule an appointment with one of our physicians. We have extensive pain management experience. Many of our doctors have immediate appointments available the same day. Contact us online or call us. We can examine you, diagnose what’s wrong and explain different treatment options to you.
Our medical practice is in network and accepts coverage by most major insurance providers. As a result, your knee operation might not cost you anything out of pocket. This is especially true if you sustained your knee injury at work. In these cases, your medical procedure may be covered by workers’ compensation insurance.
Get the help you need to get back to living your life on your terms. Schedule an appointment with a New York orthopedic knee surgeon at IMC Bone Doc today to discuss your knee cartilage injury. We want to help.
Your patellar tendon is the strong, cord-like tissue connecting the top of your shinbone (tibia) to the bottom of your kneecap (patella). Over time, your patellar tendon can deteriorate. Other times, your patellar tendon can tear or fracture due to a sudden, serious injury. Patellar tendon tears are especially common among middle-aged or older adults who participate in sports.
Patellar tendon repair can be done surgically or non-surgically depending on the severity of your patellar tendon injury. Non-surgical repair of your patellar tendon often involves immobilizing your knee using splints or braces.
Surgical patellar tendon repair often involves reattaching your torn tendon to your knee cap. This surgical procedure is often done on an outpatient basis. As a result, you should be able to return home the same day of your surgical procedure.
Reconstructing the ligaments in your knee can be a complicated medical procedure. That’s why it’s important that you have an experienced, New York orthopedic knee surgeon performing knee ligament reconstruction surgery.
Knee ligament reconstruction, sometimes referred to as arthroscopic knee ligament reconstruction, is often a minimally invasive surgical procedure. In many cases, knee ligament reconstruction involves inserting an arthroscope into the knee through a small incision. A small camera is placed inside the arthroscope to take detailed images inside the knee. Using these images as a guide, the surgeon then inserts small surgical instruments in another incision to repair the knee ligament damage.
As the name suggests, cartilage replacement surgery involves replacing damaged cartilage in your knee with new, healthy cartilage. In many cases, the new cartilage comes from another person, who donated their cartilage to a bone bank. In other cases, the new cartilage could be your own.
The second procedure is known as autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI), which involves removing healthy cartilage cells and growing them in a laboratory. The damaged cartilage cells are then removed and replaced with the new, healthy cartilage cells grown in a laboratory.
Other common types of knee cartilage replacement procedures include:
- Abrasion Arthroplasty – High speed surgical tools used to abrade and remove damaged cartilage.
- Drilling – Holes drilled into injured joint in order to remove damaged cartilage, stimulate blood flow and encourage growth of new cartilage.
- Microfracture – Multiple, tiny holes drilled into the bone in the injured joint. The holes help stimulate blood flow and grow healthy, new cartilage.
- Osteochondral Autograft Transplantation – Surgical procedure in which healthy cartilage is taken from one part of the body and placed in the area where the damaged knee cartilage is located.
Cartilage Repair and Transplantation
Knee cartilage transplant surgery can be an effective medical procedure for treating knee pain due to damaged cartilage. As the name of this procedure suggests, healthy cartilage is transplanted and placed in the damaged cartilage area in the knee.
There are several different types of knee cartilage transplant surgical procedures. Some of the most common cartilage transplant procedures include:
- Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation Knee Surgery – This advanced transplant technique involves removing a piece of healthy cartilage, cultivating it in a laboratory and then implanting the larger piece of healthy cartilage into the damaged area.
- Osteochondral Allograft Transplantation – This knee cartilage transplant involves taking healthy cartilage tissue from a donor and transplanting their cartilage into another person at the location of the damaged knee cartilage.
- Osteochondral Autograft Transplantation – This knee cartilage transplant involves taking healthy cartilage from one part of a person’s body and placing it into another part of the body containing the injured knee cartilage.
Osteoarticular transfer system (OATS) is a surgical procedure intended to treat smaller (10 to 20 mm) areas of damaged cartilage in the knee. A type of cartilage transplant procedure, OATS involves taking healthy cartilage from one part of a patient’s body and transferring the healthy cartilage to the damaged area of the knee.
Patients with widespread osteoarthritis may not be suitable for an OATS surgical procedure. Instead, OATS is intended for people with minimal knee cartilage damage. OATS cartilage restoration knee surgery involves drilling one or two small holes in a bone near the damaged cartilage area. Healthy cartilage is then plugged into the small holes in the bone, where the new, healthy cartilage will grow and ideally supplant the damaged cartilage.
