ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Treatment of full-thickness cartilage defects remains a challenge in musculoskeletal surgery. Autologous osteochondral transplantation represents a possible solution for the repair of affected areas. However, some problems like degenerative changes of the transplanted cylinders and the surrounding cartilage or lack of cylinder integration to the surrounding cartilage arise with this method. Thus mid-term results respecting the quality of life are useful for assessment of the method. PATIENTS/MATERIAL AND METHODS: We investigated 22 patients with a mean follow-up of 88 ± 14.5 months after autologous osteochondral transplantation due to a full-thickness cartilage defect of the medial femoral condyle. Beside clinical scores we assessed at follow-up the quality of life using the SF-36 health survey and the EQ-5D. Furthermore, radiological changes were detected and MRI was performed in 21 patients. A control group of 19 patients, treated with microfracture, was matched in terms of BMI, gender and age. Exclusion criteria for this group were tibial kissing lesion, ligament instability, arthrosis and malalignment. RESULTS: In a longitudinal comparison with results 13.5 months after operation, no difference in Lysholm score was found. In plain radiographs higher degrees of arthritic changes in the medial compartment compared to the unaffected knee were observed. MRI revealed a mean modified MOCART score of 41.2 ± 7.7 for the OAT group and of 39.4 ± 16.1 for the microfracture group, without being significant. For OAT patients all cylinders showed an osseous integration. However, cylinder oedema was found in 9 patients. Those patients had a higher intensity of pain on a visual analogue scale. Quality of life was better for OAT patients in the physical scale of SF-36, but not in the mental scale. CONCLUSION: Autologous osteochondral transplantation has an unaltered significance in treating full-thickness cartilage defects and leads to satisfying mid-term results. The development of early arthritic changes might not be preventable by this method. Oedema of the transplanted cylinders is attended by higher pain intensity and might be an indirect sign of cartilage degeneration.
