The Carticel procedure

The best resource for information on the Carticel procedure is at the Carticel Website. For a great video describing the process of implantation click on the image below to be taken to the full video.

Is Carticel right for you?

The answer to the above question for some people is, no. Click the image below to take the Carticel.com quiz:

Carticel Video

Here is a news report from Maryland explaining a bit about the Carticel procedure.

Carticel research results

There continues to be greater research done to support the long term effects of cartilage replacement. There are always two sides to every story and I have come across some positive and some not-so-positive articles to support this claim. At the end of the day though I am still hands down happy that I did decide to go through with the Carticel procedure. I am only 8 months into my recovery but I can say that my quality of life has been vastly improved from before the surgery. I cannot run, but that is not a goal of mine. I want to make sure I can walk (as simple as it sounds, it hasn't been easy as of late), chase my kids around, bike, hike, do yoga, be comfortable working out, I have no plans of running a marathon. This surgery, for me at least, wasn't an action to return to the athletic life I had before, it was to continue to lead the life that is ahead of me, and to NOT have a knee replacement at age 40. I will touch on whether or not Carticel is the right procedure for you in another post. I have pasted a few snippets of articles I found, the appropriate links are also included to take you to the full article.

An article earlier this year from Hays Pharmaceutical states: "The findings show that nearly 90 per cent of patients using the drug saw an improvement in their knee function and that this continued for almost ten years...These data suggest that the ACI technique not only works, but when it works, the results will last for a long time."
(view full article)

An article on rxlist.com goes into detail about the most common adverse effects of the surgery:
"The most common serious adverse events (> 5% of patients), derived from the STAR(Study of the Treatment of Articular Repair) study include arthrofibrosis/joint adhesion, graft overgrowth, chondromalacia or chondrosis, cartilage injury, graft complication, meniscal lesion and graft delamination. Only serious adverse events were collected in this study." (see list below for greater detail)

Cartilage damage - roadmap

Here is a brief overview of the knee with particular attention to injured articular cartilage. Notice in the image above the pink/red area. This is a simple snapshot of what damaged cartilage looks like and a simple easy to understand look at the inside of the knee.

What is cartilage?

Cartilage is a type of connective tissue in the body. It is made of cells called chondrocytes embedded in a matrix, strengthened with fibers of collagen and sometimes elastin, depending on the type of cartilage. There are three different types: hyaline cartilage, elastic cartilage, and fibrocartilage. Cartilage serves to provide structure and support to the body's other tissues without being as hard or rigid as bone. It can also provide a cushioning effect in joints.

Cartilage is avascular, meaning that it is not supplied by blood vessels. Instead, nutrients diffuse through the matrix. Cartilage is usually flexible, again depending on the type. Some of the bodily structures that include cartilage are the ears, nose, ribcage, and intervertebral discs.
(view the full article)

Torn Meniscus

The meniscus is a C-shaped piece of fibrocartilage which is located at the peripheral aspect of the joint. The majority of the meniscus has no blood supply. For that reason, when damaged, the meniscus is unable to undergo the normal healing process that occurs in most of the rest of the body. In addition, with age, the meniscus begins to deteriorate, often developing degenerative tears. Typically, when the meniscus is damaged, the torn piece begins to move in an abnormal fashion inside the joint.
(view the full article)

Benefits of cartilage repair

Each year, hundreds of million of people injure the cartilage in their knees, shoulders and other joints. Whatever the cause, the result is the same: pain that makes it difficult or impossible for you to lead the active lifestyle you wish to enjoy. Unfortunately, these injuries happen to people considered too young to undergo artificial joint replacement surgery. Many patients have been living with joint pain for years. Some cannot remember a time when their knee didn't throb or swell with every step, flight of stairs or short jog. Fortunately, there are new treatment options-many of them available only in the last five years.
(For more information visit: cartilage.org a website dedicated to cartilage repair. )

My Knee Story

Who am I? Why am I writing a blog about knees? Good questions!

Me: I am a 28 year old female, and I have had four knee surgeries. Two Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Reconstructions (one left, one right), one arthroscopic (right knee), one Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation (ACI) /Carticel (right knee)...in 12 years.

I now consider myself an ex-athlete, I grew up playing soccer competitively for 15 years, played women's rugby for two years in college (yes that is a real sport), and ran triathlons for two and a half years. Now I bike, swim, hike, do yoga and pilates and look towards the future. My knees need to last me a long while, it's time I start being nice to them.

Why?: After my diagnosis' I was looking for some sort of resource or group where I could talk to others who had these surgeries, and find out just what was about to happen. For my first ACL surgery in 1996 the Internet (and dial-up connection) was not a good outlet. Now after my ACI surgery the wealth of information available online was helpful, but overwhelming, and I found very little personal connection.

This blog will be a resource for helpful, concise information and a way for others who have undergone these knee surgeries (or are about to) or have other such knee injuries to connect to each other, share tips, advice, or lend a friendly ear. Please feel free to comment with questions, or advice, links, or references.