Repairing Osteochondral Defects of Critical Size Using Multiple Costal Grafts An Experimental Study

• Published in: Cartilage Vol. 6; no. 4; pp. 241 - 251
• Main Authors: Du, Dajiang, Sugita, Norihiko, Liu, Zhen, Moriguchi, Yu, Nakata, Ken, Myoui, Akira, Yoshikawa, Hideki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-10-2015
• Subjects: articular cartilage; osteochondral defect; mosaicplasty; costal graft; rabbit
• ISSN: 1947-6035; 1947-6043
• DOI: 10.1177/1947603515591628

Objective:
To investigate the feasibility of repairing osteochondral defects of critical size by performing mosaicplasty using multiple sliced costal cartilage grafts, which enables repair of extensively injured knees using grafts from a single rib.
Design:
Critical osteochondral defects were prepared on the femoral groove of skeletally mature Japanese white rabbits. Costal cartilage grafts from a single rib were harvested and sliced into multiple segments (approximately 3-5 mm in length). The defects were left untreated or repaired by performing mosaicplasty using costal cartilage grafts (with or without a longitudinal cut along the middle). At 4 and 12 weeks after transplantation, International Cartilage Repair Society macroscopic and histological grading was performed.
Results:
The macroscopic score and visual histological score were significantly higher in the repaired groups than in the untreated group at 4 and 12 weeks after surgery. Histological continuous integration between grafted costal cartilage and host bone was observed in both repaired groups.
Conclusions:
The findings suggest that costal cartilage might be a useful alternative source for chondral grafting. We were able to repair large osteochondral defects by performing mosaicplasty using multiple sliced costal cartilage grafts from a single rib.