Arthroscopic osteochondral grafting in fissuring osteochondritis dissecans of the knee

We encountered a rare case of osteochondritis dissecans in a 13-year-old girl, in which magnetic resonance imaging appeared to show migration of the joint cartilage into the bone marrow of the femoral condyle, with fissuring visible on the joint cartilage. Arthroscopy showed fissuring, 5 x 20 mm, in the right lateral femoral condyle, and the articular cartilage in the center of the lesion had fibrillation and was depressed about 5 mm. We performed arthroscopic osteochondral grafting to the lesion. The microscopic findings showed that the lesion had fibrillated bone marrow and that the cartilage existed only in the superficial layer of the lesion. Twenty-seven months after surgery, the patient was able to participate in sports and had no knee pain.