2025 ISAKOS Biennial Congress ePoster
Biomimetic Scaffold for the Treatment of Chondral and Osteochondral Lesions of the Knee: Clinical Results at Long Term Follow-up.
Iacopo Romandini, MD, Doha QATAR
Alessandro Di Martino, MD, Bologna, BO ITALY
Luca Andriolo, MD, Bologna ITALY
Davide Reale, MD, Bologna ITALY
Luca Solaro, MD, Bologna ITALY
Marco Franceschini, MD, Bologna, BO ITALY
Stefano Zaffagnini, MD, Prof., Bologna ITALY
Giuseppe Filardo, MD, PhD, MBA, Prof., Lugano SWITZERLAND
IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, ITALY
FDA Status Cleared
Summary
Long-term follow-up of patients treated with a biomimetic collagen-hydroxyapatite scaffold for chondral and osteochondral knee lesions showed significant clinical improvement, with stable subjective and objective outcomes and a low rate of failures and revisions over a minimum of 10 years.
Abstract
Purpose
Articular cartilage lesions represent a challenging scenario for the orthopaedic surgeon. During recent years biomimetic cell-free osteochondral scaffolds have shown good promising results for the treatment of chondral and osteochondral lesions up to 10 years follow-up. The purpose of this study is to evaluate long-term results offered by the implantation of a biomimetic collagen-hydroxyapatite construct for the treatment of chondral and osteochondral lesions of the knee at minimum 10 years follow-up.
Methods
A series of 56 consecutive patients (38 men, 18 women; means age 32.5 ± 11.8 years) affected by symptomatic chondral or osteochondral lesions International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS) grade 3 to 4 were treated with the implantation of osteochondral scaffold. All patients were prospectively evaluated at 2, 5, and at minimum 10 years follow-up with International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) subjective and objective scores, l’EQ-VAS and Tegner score. Failures were documented.
Results
A statistically significant improvement in all clinical scores was observed from baseline evaluation up to minimum 10 years follow-up (mean 139.8 ± 13.0 months). The mean IKDC subjective score improved from 45.9 ± 16.9 to 75.3 ± 18.3 at 2 years (p < 0.0005), and it then remained stable at 5 years (74.7 ± 23.2) and at final follow-up (69.7 ± 22.3). Tegner score improved from pre-operative value (mean 2.3 ± 1.7) to 2 years (4.3 ± 1.6) and final follow-up (3.7 ± 1.7), without reaching pre-injury value (6.0 ± 2.1). Six patients underwent revision surgery with removal of the scaffold, with a cumulative surgical failure rate of 10.7%.
Conclusion
The treatment of chondral and osteochondral lesions with biomimetic osteochondral scaffold implantation is a safe and effective procedure, providing satisfactory clinical results and low failure rate up to long term follow-up.