James York, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Maryland uses patient's stem cells to repair damaged tissues in their knees, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Here are eight things to know:
1. The stem cell treatment is considered a long-last fix for those patients who don't have arthritis.
2. Autologus cartilage implantation entails two stages. In the first stage, surgeons perform a minor cartilage biopsy, in which a small piece of the joint cartilage is harvested from a part of the knee that does not bear weight from arthroscopy.
3. The sample derived from the knee is sent to a laboratory where it is cultured and grown into approximately 16 million cartilage cells.
4. The second stage occurs nearly two months after the first procedure. In this phase, the surgeon performs open surgery to implant the new cells.
5. In the second stage, the surgeon cleans out the damaged cartilage and then secures the new cells with a special membrane sewn over the defective areas. The new cells attach to the damaged area within six hours and begin to grow.
6. It takes around three months for the new cells to completely fill the damaged area.
7. The ideal candidate for ACL is those patients under 40 who do not have arthritis and their cartilage damage is the size of a nickel or larger and there is healthy surrounding cartilage.
8. The Food and Drug Administration has approved ACI since 1994 in the United States. ACI is not as commonly performed as knee replacements because ACI is not effective for treating arthritis.
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