Clinical outcome and subchondral bone edema presence at two-year follow-up after high density autologous chondrocyte implantation treatment in the knee

Recently, a new approach of autologous chondrocyte implantation technique (using as biomaterial a collagen type i/iii membrane) based on increasing cell density called HD-ACI (High Density Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation) has been described. The objective of this paper was to study the clinical outcome and incidence of subchondral bone oedema in patients with cartilage lesions in the knee treated with HD-ACI at 1-2 years of follow-up. This is a retrospective study performed with forty patients with chondral injuries grade iii-iv. All patients were treated with HD-ACI with a cellular dose of 5×10 chondrocytes /cm of lesion. The subjective perception of improvement of symptoms and functionality was measured with the IKDC score (International Knee Documentation Committee). The presence of bone oedema was assessed at 6, 12 and 24 months of follow-up by magnetic resonance imaging. IKDC values showed a significant improvement at 12 and 24 months (P