This is a painful condition, where a small area of cartilage is damaged in an otherwise healthy knee. If left untreated, this can cause the surrounding cartilage to degrade and turn into full blown Osteoarthritis.

Unfortunately, the cartilage can be damaged from trauma or other pathologies like Osteochondritis Dissecans (OCD); this results in a painful lesion which if left untreated can progress to early joint degeneration and osteoarthritis.

The lesions can be either “Chondral” (cartilage only defect)or “Osteochondral” (cartilage plus some underlying bone).

Cartilage is unable to heal itself, and so this is a very difficult area to treat. Thanks to advances in biological regenerative treatments and bio-material science, we can now treat these defects successfully.