Cartiform cartilage graft for chondromalacia patella

[Llamarebel]

I would say the overwhelmingingly so far responses on this site (few though they are) have been positive with the cartiform.  I guess some depends on where the cartilage defect is in your son's knee. I think most I've seen noted have been patellar, but I recently had my medial condyle repaired with early success...

[sandman5309]

Llamarebel,

Yeah I have seen a lot of positive results on the forum from individuals who have received Cartiform.  How is your recovery going?  What was the extent of the damage to your condyle?

Canyonking,

How goes your recovery?  I have been looking at working with the same surgeon and have read mostly positive reviews.

[Jordan1]

Canyonking - would love an update on your knee/s are doing and how your cartiform grafts have held up.

I'm considering ACI/MACI, but the two step procedure seems like a lot and after hearing about cartiform I'm really curious about it!

[reflex_nl]

Hi Jordan,

Did your stemcell injections help?

Thx

Reflex

[Jordan1]

Hi Jordan,

Did your stemcell injections help?

Thx

Reflex

Hi reflex_nl,

I had two rounds of PRP injections and then 2 rounds of bone marrow stem cell injections, probably around 25 injections per knee per treatment. These were after 2 years of conservative treatment and a failed arthroscopic debridement. If they helped at all it was about 6+ months later, but I've also had ACL surgeries and meniscus tears that could have been/be contributing to my pain. I?m not sure the injections substantially helped the cartilage damage and pain that is coming from my patella. I have read some recent stuff about shooting stem cells directly into patella cartilage lesions (my injections were all just into the joint itself) but I do not know if that is effective especially with a large defect: https://www.regenexx.com/364-2/

From what I've read and found out after I was getting the injections is that there are not good outcomes with PRP and stem cells for kneecap specific damage. After trying the stem cell route, and that not working I found some different PT avenues that I started to pursue and think that is what has helped the most and gotten me back on my feet/moving around a little more.

I found a physical therapist trained through the Grey institute, who focused on functional training and that helped, however, I still have a lot of problems with any kind of extended standing, walking and even sitting. The first 3 chapters of a book called "Pain Free" by Pete Egoscue were super helpful and I also follow Myodetox therapists on Instagram - they post biomechanics/functional/myofascial exercises that I like to use.

I've had 1 cartilage restoration surgeon recommend MACI, another gave an option of MACI or OATS depending on what the initial diagnostic scope would show, and a 3rd saying MACI with hesitation ? while my MRI and previous surgical photos show a medial lesion/damage under my kneecap, there is no bone reaction, which I guess is what they want to see to kind of ?confirm? that is what is causing pain, before moving forward with one of those procedures. Personally, I am still in limbo deciding what to do.

Hope some of that was helpful.

[reflex_nl]

@Jordan,  thanks for sharing you story. To what extend was cartilage damage present on the patella in your case? Did you do you stemcell @ Regenexx?  The story in your link is amazing... - but unfortunately rare.

I also cannot decide on the next steps... it is really difficult to say what will help in the long run.

[exrunner1]

The graft on the right knee is fantastic. I can mash the peddals on the mountain bike with no problem. Just hiked 2,600 vertical feet in 2 miles. Climb on weekends. All is good there. My leg muscles have come back and quads look good. The inlay has been about 8 months. To start off with, it was nice and smooth through 80 degrees range of motion. Now, it grinds like a joint full of gravel. Hurts on most activity as well. No problems with the inlay, but the underside of the patella is still atrocious so there it is. I'll wait at least another year to possibly visit an entire covering of cartiform on the left kneecap. I need to accrue more sick leave and have had enough of surgeries for a while. Ibuprofen is doing the trick for now. I typed up a whole journal of my inlay surgery and recovery just never got around to posting it. It wasn't so bad really. I was back to mtn biking within 2 months or so. I do have pictures, I'll just have to find them and post them.

Please post an update. It’s been a while we heard from u.

[Samiul27]

The graft on the right knee is fantastic. I can mash the peddals on the mountain bike with no problem. Just hiked 2,600 vertical feet in 2 miles. Climb on weekends. All is good there. My leg muscles have come back and quads look good. The inlay has been about 8 months. To start off with, it was nice and smooth through 80 degrees range of motion. Now, it grinds like a joint full of gravel. Hurts on most activity as well. No problems with the inlay, but the underside of the patella is still atrocious so there it is. I'll wait at least another year to possibly visit an entire covering of cartiform on the left kneecap. I need to accrue more sick leave and have had enough of surgeries for a while. Ibuprofen is doing the trick for now. I typed up a whole journal of my inlay surgery and recovery just never got around to posting it. It wasn't so bad really. I was back to mtn biking within 2 months or so. I do have pictures, I'll just have to find them and post them.

Please post an update. It’s been a while we heard from u.

Hi canyonking any updates on how you are feeling now