Table 2.
Histological Score23
| Nature of predominant tissue | |
|---|---|
| Hyaline cartilage | 4 |
| Mostly hyaline cartilage | 3 |
| Mixed hyaline and fibrocartilage | 2 |
| Mostly fibrocartilage | 1 |
| Some fibrocartilage, mostly nonchondrocytic cells | 0 |
| Structural characteristics | |
| Surface regularity | |
| Smooth and intact | 3 |
| Superficial horizontal lamination | 2 |
| Fissures | 1 |
| Severe disruption, including fibrillation | 0 |
| Structural integrity, homogeneity | |
| Normal | 2 |
| Slight disruption | 1 |
| Severe disintegration, disruptions | 0 |
| Thickness | |
| 100% of adjacent cartilage | 2 |
| 50–100% of normal cartilage | 1 |
| 0–50% of normal cartilage | 0 |
| Bonding to adjacent cartilage | |
| Bonded at both ends of graft | 2 |
| Bonded at one end or partially at both ends | 1 |
| Not bonded | 1 |
| Freedom from cellular changes of degeneration | |
| Hypocellularity | |
| Normal cellularity | 2 |
| Slight hypocellularity | 1 |
| Moderate hypocellularity or hypercellularity | 0 |
| Chondrocyte clustering | |
| No clusters | 2 |
| <25% of the cells | 1 |
| 25–100% of the cells | 0 |
| Freedom from degenerative changes in adjacent cartilage | |
| Normal cellularity, no clusters, normal staining | 3 |
| Normal cellularity, mild clusters, moderate staining | 2 |
| Mild or moderate hypo/hypercellularity, slight staining | 1 |
| Sever hypocellularity, poor or no staining | 0 |
| Subchondral bone | |
| Reconstruction of subchondral bone | |
| Normal | 3 |
| Reduced subchondral bone reconstruction | 2 |
| Minimal subchondral bone reconstruction | 1 |
| No subchondral bone reconstruction | 0 |
| Inflammatory response in subchondral bone region | |
| None/mild | 2 |
| Moderate | 1 |
| Severe | 0 |
| Safranin-O staining | |
| Normal or near normal | 3 |
| Moderate | 2 |
| Slight | 1 |
| None | 0 |