Microfracture

Do you have knee pain in young age? It could be due to a cartilage lesion.  Microfracture is one of the key hole surgery methods to relieve knee pain in sedentary patients. It consists of making small holes in the area of damaged cartilage to stimulate a healing response. Short term results are promising but in the long run, the benefits don’t last.
I was the first surgeon to perform this Micro fracture procedure from 2005 in Chennai. Read about the procedure here. Listen to a patient’s story.

Key hole surgery
Micro fracture is a useful technique for the treatment of small articular cartilage  lesions in low demand patients. The underlying bone is stimulated to healing by repair tissue. Small holes are created with an awl. Bleeding occurs into this area and a clot forms over the area. The blood from the underlying bone marrow brings progenitor stem cells. The clot must heal and mature into effective repair tissue for a successful result.

Microfracture Technique
The procedure is done through key hole surgery  (arthroscopic surgery). Holes are made in the cartilage defect. In the picture below microfracture has been done for a lesion on the medial femoral condyle. This was done by an open method in preparation for cartilage repair. Presently I augment micro fracture with a cell procedure like Mesenchymal cell induced chondrogenesis (MCIC) for lasting results.

MIcrofracture

Post op regime is equally important.

Micro fracture and high tibial osteotomy
If there is mal alignment, then a high tibial osteotomy is combined with a microfracture procedure.

If you have knee pain and want pain relief by this procedure, e mail drvenkat@kneeindia.com.

See how this patient benefited from Microfracture surgery in my practice.