Knee conditions

Cartilage Repair & Restoration

Treating damage to the smooth surface that lines the knee joint.

Articular cartilage is the smooth white surface that lines the ends of the bones inside the knee. It has very little blood supply of its own, which is why damage to it is treated differently from an injury to a ligament or a bone.

A teenage athlete clearing a hurdle on a track

Why cartilage is treated on its own terms

Cartilage damage in a child can follow a single injury — a kneecap dislocation that shears off a fragment, for example — or accompany a condition such as osteochondritis dissecans.

Because the tissue does not simply knit back together the way bone does, the goal is to restore a durable joint surface rather than to remove the damaged area.

How Dr. Green decides between surgery and non-surgical treatment

How Dr. Green treats damaged knee cartilage

Cartilage repair and restoration proceduresListed in Dr. Green’s own special-expertise list as one of the areas he treats in the knee.
Treatment of osteochondral fragmentsAddressing fragments of cartilage with underlying bone, which often accompany patellar dislocation and OCD.

5 peer-reviewed papers on knee cartilage

Dr. Green's published research on cartilage repair

Of the papers indexed on PubMed under Dr. Green’s Hospital for Special Surgery affiliation, 5 are on this subject.

See the full publication record

The papers themselves

His 5 papers on this subject, indexed on PubMed under his Hospital for Special Surgery affiliation. Each opens on PubMed.

Patients Dr. Green has treated for this condition

The Hospital for Special Surgery publishes these accounts in its Back in the Game archive. All 3 list Dr. Green as the treating surgeon. Each has its own page here, cited back to hss.edu.