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Patients who experienced symptomatic relief did not complete autologous cartilage implantation

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CHICAGO — Almost half of patients scheduled to undergo autologous cartilage implantation did not complete both stages of the procedure due to symptomatic relief, according to results presented here.

“We found that, at a mean follow-up of 3.6 years, about 45% of patients did not complete both stages of [autologous cartilage implantation],” Jonathan C. Riboh, MD, said in his presentation at the International Cartilage Repair Society Annual Meeting. “That is because the majority of the patients had symptomatic relief from the creation of stable vertical edge to their chondral lesions and debridement of any loose cartilage.”

Jonathan C. Riboh

Riboh and colleagues reviewed patient demographics, preoperative imaging and surgical data for 264 biopsies from patients who underwent autologous cartilage implantation (ACI) between 2008 and 2012. Patients with a minimum 2 years of follow-up who did not end up undergoing ACI completed a survey for their reasons.

Results showed 51.9% of patients did not finish the ACI procedure due to complete symptomatic relief, whereas 9.3% of patients did not finish ACI due to insurance denial, according to the researchers.

“There were some [patients] who went on to have other procedures done,” Riboh said. “There were people who, by the time we were going to do an ACI, the lesion had progressed to the point where they had so much subchondral involvement that we felt they were no longer candidates for ACI.”

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Younger patients were more likely to have additional surgery, and patients with longer lesions were more likely to have a subsequent surgery other than ACI, according to study results. Although a longer duration of symptoms was a predictor of undergoing ACI, patients with a longer duration of symptoms were also more likely to have a secondary procedure other than ACI, Riboh said. – by Casey Tingle

Reference:

Yanke A, et al. The fate of patients who do not undergo implantation following biopsy for future autologous chondrocyte implantation. Presented at: International Cartilage Repair Society Annual Meeting. May 8-11, 2015; Chicago.

Disclosure: Riboh reports no relevant financial disclosures.