Donor site morbidity after articular cartilage repair procedures: a review

In order to perform an Osteochondral Autologous Transplantation (OAT) or an Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation (ACI), the integrity of healthy intact articular cartilage at a second location needs to be violated. This creates the possibility for donor site morbidity. Only recently have any publications addressed this issue. The aim of this manuscript is to review the current knowledge on donor site morbidity after an OAT or an ACI. Reports were identified by searching Medline and Pubmed up to March 2010. Donor site morbidity was described mostly considering a clinical outcome, both in a qualitative (parameters in history or physical examination) and/or quantitative way (knee status reported by means of a numerical score). An increasing rate of problems is noted when using quantitative instead of qualitative parameters, and when donor site morbidity is the focus of attention, affecting up to more than half of the patients, in particular for an OAT procedure. The decision to harvest an osteochondral or cartilage biopsy to perform a repair procedure should therefore be taken with caution. This also underscores the need for further research to identify safe donor sites or to develop techniques that eliminate the need for a formal biopsy ccompletely.