Hi, I am not sure about that and have not been on here in awhile.  I have bad arthiritis that has been severly worsened by injections I had in Germany and was told about cartilage transplants, have you looked into that?

Hi, I am not sure about that and have not been on here in awhile.  I have bad arthiritis that has been severly worsened by injections I had in Germany and was told about cartilage transplants, have you looked into that?

Thanks for your though post dear AndyB .
The only thing which makes me doubt about treatment healing of arthritis is that , exist many types of arthritis . So it has a big difference between osteoarthritis (wear of cartilage in old people) and arthritis caused from injure of knee (traumatic), from bowed legs , etc .
What kind of injjections have u used , and why they were not helpful ? Have u done cartilage transplant in Germany ?

I have also heard about chondrocyte implnatation which means cartilage transplant but i dont know how is that helpfull in severe cases i have read that help in traumatic injure and in small area .
Greetings

Hi Dr

Stem cell research is still a fairly new procedure and therefore I doubt enough info can be collected yet to show if they can prevent OA using these techniques.. I believe OA develops in the joints affecting the circulation of blood and fluid which in turn affects bone growth and then degradation. In my case OA has caused bones to degrade and gradually erode the cartilage.  With no cartilage bone on bone has occurred and then bowing of the leg as no cushion was present. 

I originally had about 5 cortisone shots (1 every 4 months) into the joint, a reasonably big needle and yes they hurt.. the first 3 helped and eased the pain.  After the 5th doc advised couldnt have anymore as joint was full of cortisone.. guess no where for it to go!! and needed to look at surgery..

I gather shots are just for pain relief and to ease the joint rather than fix anything..

Hi

I had all the procedures done on the 6th June this year. The op lasted over 8 hours and the surgeon was close to calling it a day at one point and getting me back in to complete... but they managed to get them all done.

Obviously I'm still early days recovery wise 10 weeks so I can only say that doc said scans look good and acl revision is holding well.

The post op rehab guidelines are difficult I guess when you have had menisus transplant, HTO and microfracture. I have just finished 8 weeks non weight bearing and in the last 2 weeks have got my knee to about 110 degrees flexi and full extension.  Obviously at 38 years old the emphasis is on getting the knee to bend as much as possible as soon as possible but the 6-8 weeks was a big no no and the leg was locked for 2 weeks in a brace which I could remove at night after 2 weeks. I am now also down to taking only diclofenac and a few paracetomol so pain levels are manageable.

From reading lots of research and reviews on here I think I had the most surgery of anyone in one go.. Obviously surgeon said each one of the surgeries reduces the chances of the others working as they are all extensive but he is hopeful of this working..

It will be interesting to see how well things go as I have had to pack up my job (manual work) and am completely 100% committed to my knee improving.

The HTO was done as I was in considerable varus alignment and yes I think to off load the weight on that side and to be able to implant the new cartilage from the cadaver.

Any more info please feel free to ask.

regards

Hi Mrs Mac

Interesting article to read from arthritis uk and it does kind of say about reversing effects of OA.  Whilst I agree you can maybe reduce OA at an early stage I think that once you are at Stage 3 or 4 and OA is present all you can do is sideline it within the joint.. I asked my OS about this initially and he advised that once you have OA you have OA you can only stem the flow and like you have said if you remove weight off and area it will not get worse than it is.

OA does seem to be a bit of a difficult task to address by everybody within the medical circuit that is why I think anyone with OA is not helped with benefits and support within the UK, in other words its not really a recognisable condition and articles like this one don't really help the cause and skirt around the issues.  The article does state that all of its recommendations do not provide a 'magic bullet'. I hope within the years to come they do find one of these cos more and more people are gonna develop it!


SG

Have you tried the specialist orthopaedic hospitals - Stanmore, Oswestry, Birmingham, possibly others?  Perhaps you might get relief from a hyaluronic acid injectionif not already tried?  Speaking to a pain specialist or a rheumatologist may also help.

All the best

SG - You are exactly right, its the people who are working and paying who seem to suffer the most with lack of services available and if they would just pump some into it we would all benefit in the long run as the pressure on resources like doctors and physio appts not to mention the revenue lost through sick days etc would significantly decrease but thats too sensible an option for the gov't to consider!

Vickster - yeah unfortunately I've tried just about every injection/treatment available but nothing has really worked for me, I did get very slight relief for a very short time with hyaluronic acid injections but nothing significant.  I have recently moved to another area so am going to check out what specialist orthopaedic surgeons there are here and see if I can get to see one of them, maybe they will be able to suggest something to tide me over the next 20 years  until I am old enough for TKRs!!!