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Question:
I would be interested to know your opinion of Carticel tissue
replacement. What aree the criteria of patient eligibility? Is there
anything else on the horizon for a 55 y-o with no cartilage in l-knee?
While I am painfree, I miss running and wonder if there is any hope of
running again. Thanks for any response.
Alan Ballow
Question submitted by:
Isle of Palms - alanballow@home.com
| Dr. Alleyne |
Dr. Ken Alleyne recently completed a Sports Medicine
Fellowship at Yale's School of Medicine and is currently in private practice in Connecticut. He trained at the
Wake Forest University School of Medicine and completed a research
fellowship at Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.
His residency training in orthopedic surgery was undertaken at the Howard University
Hospital. You can read a Knee1 exlusive interview with Dr. Alleyne here.
|
Answer:
Carticel has met with a great deal of success in treating focal cartilage defects. It is not a therapy indicated for patients with significant arthritic involvement of the knee joint. There are other options both surgical and non-operative to attempt to manage your discomfort. You should discuss with your surgeon what these options might be. Although if you are pain free running might not be the wisest form of exercise to preserve joint integrity. Frequently patients decide to substitute other less traumatic (to the knee) forms of exercise like swimming, cycling, rowing. You might want to consider an alternative form of activity to preserve your non-painful knees.
