Moving towards single stage cartilage repair—is there evidence for the minced cartilage procedure?

Introduction: Several different surgical options are available to address cartilage lesions. Lately, autologous minced cartilage procedure has been gaining in popularity as a chondrocyte based, simple, single-staged and cost-effective surgical technique. Objective: The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the current evidence supporting chondrocyte based, single-stage cartilage repair with a focus on the technique of autologous minced cartilage implantation. Results: To date only limited evidence exists for single staged, autologous minced cartilage procedure. In vitro and animal studies show induction of de novo production of extracellular matrix, chondrocyte outgrowth, proliferation, and differentiation with encouraging tissue generation. Biological, histological and immunohistological data seem comparable to 2-stage autologous chondrocyte implantation. Preliminary, short-term clinical data indicate good clinical and functional results with low complication and revision rates. Clinical outcomes in the short term seem comparable to those resulting from autologous chondrocyte implantation . Conclusion: Single-stage autologous minced cartilage repair is a simple and effective cartilage repair option. This technique has strong biologic, economic and clinical potential. More high-level, long-term comparative trials with larger patient cohorts are needed to allow for comparison with other cartilage repair techniques and to determine the implant durability.