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Surgical treatment for osteochondritis dessicans of the knee

  • Cartilage Repair Techniques in the Knee (A Dhawan, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Reviews in Musculoskeletal Medicine Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) of the knee is a disease of the subchondral bone with secondary injury to the overlying articular cartilage. OCD lesions are generally categorized as juvenile—growth plates open—or adult—growth plates closed. This maturity-based classification scheme has a prognostic value in that many juvenile OCD lesions will heal with conservative care while most symptomatic adult OCD lesions need surgical intervention. OCD can result in pain, knee joint effusions, loose body formation, and arthritis. Short-term treatment goals include pain and symptom resolution while the long-term goal is to minimize arthritis. Surgical options include debridement, drilling, microfracture, reduction and fixation, autograft osteochondral transplantation, autologous chondrocyte implantation, and allograft osteochondreal transplantation.

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  1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Penn State College of Medicine, 30 Hope Drive, Hershey, PA, 17033, USA

    Zachary Winthrop, Gregory Pinkowsky & William Hennrikus

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  1. Zachary Winthrop
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  2. Gregory Pinkowsky
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  3. William Hennrikus
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Correspondence to William Hennrikus.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Cartilage Repair Techniques in the Knee

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Winthrop, Z., Pinkowsky, G. & Hennrikus, W. Surgical treatment for osteochondritis dessicans of the knee. Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med 8, 467–475 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12178-015-9304-9

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