Artificial cartilege research

[Flluffycat]

Does anyone know if there is any research being done on artificial cartiledge? I have severe osteoarthritis in my neck and it's giving me fits in too many ways to describe.

I'm sure finding a substance that wouldn't be rejected by the body would be hard but if someone looks long and hard enough, it might be doable. Does anyone know if anyone is researching this?

 

[phoggie]

I also have the neck problem and went to a pain management doctor and he gave me an injection to deaden the nerve....and so far, it has worked wonders. I don't know about any artificial cartilege, but this really gave me some relief...you might want to inquire about this if it could help give you some help. Good luck.

 

[Nursepair]

Welcome Fluffycat. I heard about that research from my OS a few years ago, they are still working on it as far as I know. I believe they managed to grow some on a rat or something? Not too sure. Over to you Jo?

 

[Josephine]

Oh yes, there is a pretty well established procedure called broken link removed: https://www.maitrise-orthop.com/corpusmaitri/orthopaedic/mo76_mosaicplasty/index.shtml where a tiny trephine is used to take cores of normal cartilage from a healthy part of the joint and can either be directly implanted into the worn area to stimulate growth or can be sent to a laboratory where it is grown until there is enough to cover a larger area.

Only drawback is, so far as I am aware, this has only been used in knees. I could be wrong but I am not aware of it being used in hips thus far. Also it's generally more appropriate for diseased articular cartilage rather than damage caused by wear and tear.

 

[BigDog Mom]

I don't where in the USA you are but here is just one website that is experimenting with cartilage repair.

https://www.regenexx.com

I know a couple of these companies have had success with ligament repair in animals but I have not heard of any human success stories yet. But it is a technology worth watching that's for sure. Beats the pants off of cutting things out and replacing them with man made materials. ;)

FWIW,
Donna

 

[phoggie]

Oh my how exciting~~~~ I watched this on FOX News and I hope this would be the answer to all of our joint problems. Wouldn't it be WONDERFUL if we could all avoid the replacements that we are having? I wonder how long this might be before it is available to patients...but of course, insurance will say it is "experimental" and won't pay for it, but hopefully it will become common practice in the not too far future.

 

[JenniferG]

If you had the KR already, is there anything to put cartiledge in anymore? Maybe it woukld only be good for those yet to have TKRs. Either way, it's progress.