Background

OCA transplantation has historically been harvested from a whole condyle intra-operatively to allow for orthoptic matching with the osteochondral defect site. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the radiological outcomes between fresh pre-cut osteochondral allograft (OCA) cores versus hemi-condylar OCAs.

Methods

A retrospective review of patients who underwent an OCA for an osteochondral defect of the knee between June 2011 and January 2019 was performed. Patient matching between those with OCA harvested from a whole condyle/patella or a fresh-core was performed based on patient demographics (age, gender, lesion size, lesion location, concomitant surgery, and MRI follow-up length) to generate two comparable groups. The cartilage at the graft site was assessed with use of a modified Magnetic Resonance Observation of Cartilage Repair Tissue (MOCART) scoring system.

Results

Overall, it was possible to pair-match 22 total patients who underwent OCA with either fresh pre-cut OCA cores (n = 11) and hemi-condylar OCA (n = 11). The mean age in both groups was 26.7 +- 8.1, 36.4% of patients were male, and the mean lesion size was 21.7 mm2. Overall, 63.6% of lesions were condylar and 36.4% were patellofemoral. There was no significant difference in total MOCART score (69.2 vs 68.3, p = 0.93), or in any sub-score (p > 0.05 for all).

Conclusion

Our study found that there was no difference in MOCART score between fresh pre-cut OCA cores and condylar OCA following osteochondral transplantation.