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CellCoTec successfully implants first articular cartilage defect device
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CellCoTec announced in a press release the launch of a pilot clinical trial by successfully implanting its first patient with the company’s INSTRUCT device. The device has been developed to treat articular cartilage defects using an autologous cellular mixture within a mechanically functional scaffold, in order to promote early rehabilitation and the growth of articular hyaline cartilage.
Dr Peter Verdonk of Ghent University Hospital in Belgium, implanted the first device in a 28-year-old man who had a recent traumatic injury in his left knee. Additional patients will be enrolled for the cartilage repair procedure, both in Ghent and in two other European centers, the company noted.
Unlike autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI), the current gold standard treatment for cartilage repair, the INSTRUCT procedure uses a single surgical intervention. During the procedure, harvested autologous bone marrow cells and chondrocytes were separated from their tissue, mixed, and then introduced into a bio-degradable, load-bearing polymer scaffold. Dedicated instrumentation is used to create and prepare the defect site, to size the implant and to introduce the cell-loaded scaffold into the defect.
“The surgical procedure was easy and straightforward,” Verdonk said. “I believe this innovative process has some unique advantages which could really mean a breakthrough in cartilage regenerative surgery.”