how does carticel work?

Carticel is a biologic product used to repair articular cartilage damage. The procedure is called Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation (ACI). First, an orthopedic surgeon takes a small biopsy of your healthy articular cartilage, usually the size of two pencil erasers, and sends it to Genzyme Biosurgery. This is a unique laboratory and the only one of its kind in the United States. Genzyme then grows the cells until there are enough to repair your defect (this takes about 5 weeks). The cells are put into a transfer vial and shipped back to your surgeon. It arrives by special courier the morning of surgery.

The second step is the surgery itself. Your surgeon will make an incision in your knee, and prepare your injury site by cleaning away all the damaged tissue. The surgeon will then cover the lesion with a patch taken from tissue covering your shinbone (tibia). The surgeon injects your newly grown cartilage cells (Carticel) under the patch into the lesion. The cells attach to the bone, multiply and mature to form a cartilage repair.

Third, you will need to go through the personalized rehabilitation program recommended by your surgeon.