I've had the worst luck with my right knee. First I tore the cartilage right down to the bone. The surgeon tried to repair it arthroscopically. That didn't work. Then I had a new cartilage implant out on the market called Carticel. There were problems and the graft failed. Now what?
Your problems aren't unique but they are uncommon. Less than four people out of 100 receiving the cartilage implant (Carticel) have a failed graft or other problems.
According to a recent report on patient failures with Carticel, revision surgery is a possibility. Out of 7500 patients getting the Carticel implant, 294 had problems in the first 15 days. About 93 percent of those patients went on to have another operation.
In about half the cases, the graft was removed, the joint scraped clean, and small holes drilled into the joint surface to stimulate healing. Some patients needed revisions that involved the soft tissues around the joint. Resurfacing, realigning, or cleansing the knee joint was done in a smaller number of patients. Eight people had a total knee replacement.
Your surgeon will evaluate your knee from the outside in to decide which course of action is best for you. There are plenty of options left so don't despair!
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