News Article on Helping Heal Bone and Cartilage

This article from the New York Times on August 15, 2009 explains how instead of taking cartilage from another part of the knee to use to repair torn cartilage one company is producing items that can promote the re-growth of cartilage and bone.

Mimicking Human Cartilage to Repair a Knee

Donna Coveney/M.I.T. News Office

Lorna Gibson, right, is one of the inventors of a small plug that can support new tissue growth in the knee. In an image of a knee, center, the plug is at lower left.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/business/16novelties.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=bioengineering&st=cse

I think it is quite amazing that we are in a time where with the aid of the device smaller then a quarter cartilage can essentially regrow and regenerate. The "osteochondral scaffolds" (Eisenberg, 2009) can help both bone and cartilage to regenerate and heal. Less than six months after the scaffold is inserted it dissolves and has done its task of helping heal the patient. Of course different doctors have different opinions on the use of this device. The thing I think is most impressive is that pateient rehabiliation will be dramatically shortened by this device because it provides less stress than removing cartilage from another area.