Long-term follow-up evaluation of autologous chondrocyte implantation for symptomatic cartilage lesions of the knee: A single-centre prospective study

Abstract Introduction Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation (ACI) has been the first technique in reconstruction of a valid articular surface. The aim of this study was to evaluate clinical results of this technique at an average follow up of 162 ± 27 months (range 88–208) in a group of patients who underwent ACI. Materials and methods 32 patients were operated between 1997 and 2007 for chondral lesions or osteochondritis dissecans of the knee. Mean size of the defect was 5.48 cm 2  ± 1.53 (range 2–9). Nine patients were treated with I generation technique and 23 with II generation. All patients were evaluated with Subjective IKDC and Tegner Activity Scales for clinical outcomes and with EQ-VAS for a quantitative measure of health after intervention, starting from pre-operative period and at regular follow up (minimum 88 months-maximum 208 months). Results A significant increment of all scores was noticed comparing preoperative and postoperative results. In particular medium IKDC score increased from 40.3 ± 9.6 in preoperative evaluation to 74.2 ± 11.6 at one year (p  Discussion The most important finding is the reliability at long-term of ACI technique, which in our series gave excellent clinical results. No statistical differences were observed between first- and second-generation. Clinical outcomes were significantly better for defects in the femoral condyles, influenced by age (worse results over 30 years old). Conclusions ACI represents a valid technique for chondral and osteochondral lesions of the knee in a population heterogeneous for age, sex and activity level with good results even at a long term follow up.