Cartilage repair in osteoarthritic patients: utopia or real opportunity?

As medical advances lengthen average life expectancy, osteoarthritis (OA) will become a larger public health problem - not only because it is a manifestation of aging but also because it usually takes many years to reach clinical relevance. OA is already one of the ten most disabling diseases in industrialized countries. The huge financial burden emphasizes the acute need for new and more effective treatments for articular cartilage defects, especially since there are few disease modifying drugs or treatments for OA. There is no cure for OA and the management of OA is largely palliative, focusing on the alleviation of symptoms. Recent longitudinal non-controlled trials suggest that autologous chondrocyte transplantation techniques, which are indicated for young people with traumatic cartilage defects, could also be used in degenerative defects of elderly people with OA. This report discusses this therapeutic opportunity in view of some recently published data.