Introduction:

Patellar cartilage is subject to high mechanical requests and is a very frequent location of injuries. There is no consensus on their treatment. Autologous osteochondral transplantation may be an alternative to small to medium-sized condral defects with varying results in the literature. Our goal is to analyze the medium-term functional outcomes of patients with grade III-IV patellar cartilage injuries from the International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS) treated at our facility.

Material and methods:

Retrospective study in patients under 55 years of age, with a symptomatic patellar condral defect, diameter less than 2 cm, grade III-IV of ICRS treated by autologous osteochondral transplant between 2012 and 2018. The following variables are evaluated: age, sex, injury size, affected facet, number of transplanted cylinders, pre- and postoperative Kujala score, and pre- and postoperative analog visual pain scale (EVA).

Results:

Eleven patients integrated into our study. The median age was 47 years. The median diameter of the condral defect 1.3 cm. Median follow-up 3.9 years (1.84-5.58 years). The median of the preoperative Kujala questionnaire is 33 and is 89 at the end of the follow-up (p = 0.003). The median of the preoperative EVA score is 9 and 2 at the end of the follow-up (p = 0.003).

Conclusion:

Autologous osteochondral transplantation generated a significant subjective improvement in function and pain.