Meniscus - replacement
Submitted by admin on March 13, 2008 - 7:19pm.
|
This is a relatively new field in knee surgery - that of replacing the absent or very damaged meniscus with another one. There are two different meniscus replacement procedures - Meniscal allograft (Meniscus transplant)In the one a cadaver (dead person donor) meniscus is put into the knee to replace the patient's own meniscus ('meniscal allograft'). Meniscal prosthesis or scaffoldIn the other a synthetic meniscus (eg. collagen meniscus) is used as a scaffold for the body to replace the meniscus. |
These procedures are only being done in a few centres around the world and the jury is still out as to their effectiveness. It is unreasonable to expect a perfect result in a knee which has already been subject to so much stress (i.e. probably an injury, years of meniscal problems, maybe early arthritis of femur and tibia, and finally meniscectomy). But in some cases a perfect result is obtained - so one has to be guided by the surgeon involved.
This is one area where there is likely to be major improvements in technique in the next few years. Already there are centres trying the technique of growing the patient's own cells into a scaffold of artificial material, with a view to transplanting that 'living scaffold' into the patient - with less likelihood of mis-fit, rejection or infection.
»
- Printer-friendly version
- Login to post comments