The New Microfracture: All Things Considered

Microfracture, as introduced by Drs. Steadman and Rodkey, contributed a great deal in the pursuit of cartilage repair. They carefully described their patient and pathologic selection, surgical technique, and reported the long-term outcomes.1 They initially introduced their procedure for partial-thickness traumatic cartilage lesions that did not penetrate the calcified layer. The purpose was to access the subchondral bone vascularity that presumably carried pluripotential cells. Subsequently, they expanded their method to include Grade IV, full-thickness, end-stage lesions.