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Question:
Doctor,
What do you think of the work being done by Genzyme Tissue Repair in growing cartilage for knees?
Thank you for your information!
Judith Schweitzer
Question submitted by:
Judith Schweitzer - mjc2drm@aol.com
| Dr. Farr |
Dr. Farr is an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in knee and sports medicine. He serves on the board of the Orthopedic Research Foundation and is medical director of www.cartilagerestoration.org and www.myknee.md, where emphasis is on exploring new ways to treat damaged cartilage. Dr. Farr is a member of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS), the American Orthopedic Society of Sports Medicine (AOSSM) and the Arthroscopy Association of North America (AANA).
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Answer:
There are multiple exciting development in cartilage restoration. GTR is providing one alternative for addressing the problem of articular cartilage damage. The Carticel procedure is their proprietary system for culturing a patient's own articular cartilage cells (chondrocytes) and then in a separate step a surgeon implants these cells under a protective patch (made from periosteum). The FDA approved the procedure in 1997 and recently modified the specific indications. GTR is tracking all of their patients and will present the most recent ananlysis of patients at the AAOS meeting this March. To date the results are quite encouraging. To further evaluate the procedure the FDA and GTR are working out a post release study which will be discussed in detail when the final outline is approved. More details are on their web site which you can access through a linking button on the home page of Knee1.com.
