Osteochondral cylinder transplantation versus autologous chondrocytes transplantation. A prospective comparative clinical trial

Introduction: The treatment of full-thickness cartilage defects still repre sents a problem that has not yet been solved satisfactorily. Current method s used to cover defects in the knee joint are osteochondral cylinder transp lantation (OCT) and autologous chondrocyte transplantation (ACT). Methods: With a prospective clinical investigation, at the time being with 2-year re sults, we have examined ACT in comparison to OCT in 20 patients with regard to clinical and histomorphological (histology, immunohistochemistry, RES) outcome. Results: We found equally good results with both methods in Lyshol m, Meyers and Tegner Activity Scores. Histomorphologic evaluation of biopsi es obtained by arthroscopy after ACT showed a defect filling in all cases, mainly with fibrous cartilage, while localized areas of hyalinelike regener ative cartilage were documented near the base. We did not see any histomorp hologically visible change in the transplants after OCT. Conclusion: At the time we prefer OCT instead of ACT given the correct indication.