Articular cartilage lines the ends of bones and allows easy, painless motion of a joint.  When that articular cartilage breaks down or is damaged, small holes can result.  Progressive loss of articular cartilage is called arthritis.  If we treat these lesions early and prevent progression, we can significantly reduce patients' pain and allow them better quality of life, potentially preventing the need for a joint replacement.

New breakthroughs in technology now allow us to arthroscopically fill in these small defects in the cartilage, growing new cartilage in the divot overlying the bone.  BioCartilage provides a cartilage extra-cellular matrix (ECM) scaffold, allowing for bone marrow stem cells to attach and grow.  Stem Cells exposed to ECM will differentiate based on factors present within the matrix (glycoproteins/proteoglycans).  It is simple and relatively inexpensive.