how long does it take to grow the cells?

The surgeon takes a biopsy of your healthy cartilage and sends it to Genzyme Biosurgery. Once Genzyme begins to grow the cells, it takes 4-5 weeks to accumulate enough cells. The biopsy usually contains approximately 150,000 – 200,000 cells. These are then grown to a volume of 10,000,000 for the second stage implantation.