Have you ever heard of transplanting cartilage from the knee to the elbow? They are going to do this for my younger brother who has osteochondral dissecans. Is this new?

Osteochondral dissecans is another term for Little league elbow. Although it affects baseball pitchers most often, it can occur in other athletes who use (and over use) their elbow.

Forceful and repeated actions of the arm during some sports can strain the immature surface of the elbow joint. The outer part of the elbow is affected. The bone under the joint surface weakens and becomes injured.

Damage to the blood vessels to the bone can cause a small section of bone to die. The injured bone cracks. It may even break off. Pain, weakness, and loss of function develop. These symptoms don’t go away without treatment.

Cartilage transplantation is a fairly new procedure used for this condition. Plugs of cartilage and bone are removed from an area of healthy tissue and moved to the damaged area.

The knee is a good donor site because there are non-weightbearing surfaces that won’t be disturbed by the loss of some tissue. The patient is usually back to normal walking within a week. No specific rehab is required for the knee. This means the athlete can focus his or her attention on the elbow.