CartiGro^®

Autologous Chondrocyte Transplantation (ACT) with CartiGro^® for the repair of large isolated cartilage defects of the knee joint. The combination of CartiGro^® cells (autologous chondrocytes cultured in serum-free medium) with the Chondro-Gide^® collagen membrane (Geistlich Biomaterials, Wolhusen, Switzerland) provides the optimal matrix-system for cartilage repair.

It is known that hyaline articular cartilage has a very limited regenerative capacity for intrinsic repair. In addition, chondral defects have been implicated in the development of osteoarthritis. Therefore, early treatmentt of these defects may postpone or even prevent the early onset of osteoarthritis.
Conventional treatment options are mainly based on the stimulation of subchondral bone marrow cells and result in the formation of fibrous repair tissue which has inferior functional properties when compared to the original hyaline cartilage. A different approach, the transplantation of autologous osteochondral grafts, is limited to smaller defect sizes because of the restricted availability of such grafts. Currently, the only method to induce the formation of functional hyaline-like tissue in large cartilage defects is the transplantation of autologous chondrocytes. CartiGro^® autologous chondrocytes have been successfully applied in more than 1250 patients since 2000.