Cartilage transplants are indicated when the area of cartilage that is damaged on the knee is very large or if bone is also injured with the cartilage. In osteochondral transplantation, a graft is taken either from an area of the bone that is non-weightbearing or from a donor. The graft is taken as a cylindrical plug of cartilage and subchondral bone. Then, it is marched to the surface area of the defect and impacted in to place. An allograft is typically larger than an autograft and can be shaped to fit the exact defect.
Osteochondral allografts are used to treat focal cartilage defects and eliminate the pain and morbidity associated with autogenous grafting. They are patient matched to ensure the most anatomically correct surgical results. These grafts allow surgeons to transplant mature hyaline cartilage with living chondrocytes into a patient. The ACT (Allograft Cartilage Transplant) instruments bring a high level of precision and simplicity to the transplantation of the cartilage.