[New options for management of posttraumatic articular cartilage defects]

Articular cartilage trauma, in particular due to its poor healing potential remains a complicated problem in both the adult and paediatric traumatology and orthopedics. In older patients, total endoprosthesis of the joint is a method of choice, however, in younger patients, the situation remains more complicated. In case of osteochondral lesions (arthrosis, chondral fractures. osteochoodrosis dissecns) the ideal management should result in complete recovery of the hyaline cartilage on the traumatized joint surface. Contemporary medicine uses some therapeutic procedures resulting in partial recovery of the articular cartilage structure at the lesion site and several techniques of excisionining the articular surface's injured part and of transplantations of biological grafts. Regarding the above first approach, abrasive methods (micro fractures, small drill holes), which are expected to result in recovery of the articular cartilage through progenitor cells that migrate from the bone marrow to the defect site following subchondral fracturing. In case the injury is managed early, the osteochondral fragment may be fixed and the articular congruence be recovered. Mosaicoplasty using osteochondral auto grafts or other autologous grafts, or more recently using transplantations of autologous chond rocytes, which seem to have a major potential in the hyaline cartilage healing process. However, methodology of the transplant retention at the defect site remains a problem. Furthermore, the use of mesenchymal stem cells, so far in the experimental phase, appears prospective. Pivotal articular cartilage treatment research activities have progressed to a level of searching for a suitable scaffold of perfect qualities. This is the task for cooperation with bioengineering. requiring provision of the most exact differentiation protocol for hyline cartilage producing mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).