OATS -MACI MACI. Yes or no??

[dwpearl03]

Howdy. Let me preface this by disclosing that I am an anesthesia provider that works with several Ortho surgeons. I’m trying to decide if I want to do a MACI to repair cartilage damage or not. The issue is that I have about 10 different opinions about which path I should take.

I’ve tried every injection including bone marrow to repair my medial femoral condyle knee damage with minimal success. I finally decided to have my knee scoped to get a full assessment of the damage and possibly fix any lesions to buy me time. The verdict is that I am a candidate for MACI on my medial femoral condyle along with my tibia. The grafts were taken.

Here are my questions:

1: Does anyone feel like the MACI was worth the recovery? If it can buy me years of “pain free” activity including running, I might consider it.

2: I have also been given the option of a high tibial osteotomy. Has anyone had good results with that procedure?

3: Has anyone had any detrimental outcomes with MACI that the studies don’t necessarily talk about? Studies can be biased.

4: For those of you that have had the MACI, would you do it again?

Thanks all. Glad I found this forum. Good luck to everyone on your journey.

 

[Layla]

Hello @dwpearl03 Welcome to BoneSmart! I am sorry but I am not familiar enough with this to offer an opinion. However, I will leave a link to threads where it's been discussed with best wishes as you research this topic and make decisions. Thanks for joining us!
OATS - MACI

Here is a link to High Tibial Osteotomy threads also -
High Tibial Osteotomy

 

[Jamie]

I suggest you spend some time reading the threads in the links Layla provided for you. The best place to learn how any procedure works is to hear directly from the patients who've been through it. You may find that some of the threads are old and the members haven't posted in a while. If that happens and you have a question about something that was written, just post your question here in your thread and we'll try to get information for you.

These are tough decisions. There is no one "right" answer. Each individual case is unique. It's all about finding surgeons you trust and going from there. But I will tell you that many of these procedures to try and keep from having a joint replacement can have fairly extended recoveries and then may not get the job done. You need to know that's a possibility when making your choice for treatment.

Good luck with your research. I hope BoneSmart is a help to you. And we're here if you have any specific questions or concerns.

 

[dwpearl03]

Hello @dwpearl03 Welcome to BoneSmart! I am sorry but I am not familiar enough with this to offer an opinion. However, I will leave a link to threads where it's been discussed with best wishes as you research this topic and make decisions. Thanks for joining us!

Here is a link to High Tibial Osteotomy threads also - for sharing. I started digging through some of the OATS - MACI posts prior to posting and I wasn’t finding many comments from people who had recovered from the procedure. I’m sure that’s not uncommon for people to stop posting when they have recovered and moved on. I’ll keep digging though. I appreciate

Thanks for your responses. I had spent some time reading through the previous posts. I was hoping to find someone that is a few years out from the surgery and how they were progressing. Most of the discussions centered around the immediate post op phase.

 

[Jamie]

We don't see a lot of these types of procedures on BoneSmart, so it's possible that you'll have to wait a while before hearing from anyone who is months or longer out from the surgery. We have a lot of guests who just read on the forum and never join. So it's possible that someone will see your thread title and decide to join so they can post. I hope so!

 

[JusticeRider]

@dwpearl03 , I’d be interested to hear about that too. I passed up a MACI procedure in favor of a partial knee replacement. Unfortunately, people tend to post less as they get further post op, so you may not see as many of those posts. Best of luck making your decision. Be sure to come back and post here to share your experience!