Why can new cartilage be injected into a knee?
Why can’t new cartilage be injected into a knee? Saturday December 30, 2006#spacer{clear:left}#abc #sidebar{margin-top:1.5em}zSB(3,3)I am often asked why new cartilage can’t simply be inserted into the knee to replace worn out cartilage. Patients with arthritis have joint problems because of loss of cartilage within the joint. This leads to inflammation, swelling, and pain, and tends to worsen as the arthritis progresses. Therefore, the logical conclusion would be to simply replace the cartilage. Can cartilage be replaced? The problem with cartilage replacement is that this is not as simple a task as we would hope. Cartilage cells can be cloned and reproduced in a lab. The real problem arises when we want to place those cells in a particular location, and get them to function effectively in that area. Cartilage is a complex tissue; in order for cartilage to function it must be able to withstand tremendous forces. Simply injecting cartilage into a joint would serve no useful purpose, th
