I love hearing these success stories. I just don't know how long it take the cartilage to "harden". This patient is doing stairs at 6 months with no pain, but is she "shearing" at the graft or is it all good. Would love to hear any success stories especially from Patella lesions.
From Norman Marcus' Website:
http://www.normanmarcusmd.com/journal/a-holiday-denovo-nt-storyA Holiday Denovo NT Story
Posted on December 28, 2011
In scientific publications the use of an anecdote is frowned upon in favor of comparing groups of similar patients with statistic methods. But this is more of a blog, not a science publication, so if you will put this in proper context I would like to share with you the story of a young woman with knee pain due to cartilage loss.
Call it a Holiday story, because at the time of this writing you see her here hiking in Israel, pain free.
She came to me about 6 months ago with chronic symptoms of pain that defied all sorts of treatment, including prodigious exercise therapy and nutritional supplements. She is fit and enjoys working out.
The MRI revealed a full thickness loss of cartilage about the size of a quarter
located on the condyle of the femur, directly on a weight bearing surface. Once the location was confirmed by arthroscopy, a Denovo NT repair was carried out through a small incision. This was performed as an outpatient, and since the patient was visiting from another country she stayed in a local hotel for a few days and then convalesced with family in another state. After a couple of weeks she then flew to her home country and carried out her rehab there. We communicated frequently by email, and the therapist was great at that as well.
In the photo the patient is hiking up a steep hill, pain free.
This result is fairly typical for patients with isolated cartilage lesions. Note how this patient is an excellent rehab candidate, highly motivated, slim in stature and- as with all my Denovo NT candidates- has no arthritis in her knee.
Happy Holidays!
