Table 1.

Clinically available options for chondral injury treatment.

Treatment	Description	Benefits	Limitations
Non-surgical methods	Analgesics, weight loss, physical re-education, physical therapy, complementary medicine (e.g., acupuncture)	No surgery necessary Relatively inexpensive	Palliative treatment options Chronic analgesic use potential
Arthroscopic chondroplasty	Arthroscopic resection of detached cartilage fragments to prevent further joint irritation and damage	Rapid, minimally invasive procedureImmediate weight-bearing possible	Palliative treatment Benefits not proven Brief pain relief
MF 1	Arthroscopic procedure to create small lesions in the osteochondral interface to direct osteoprogenitor cells into damaged cartilage tissue	No graft required for defects < 2 cm2 Rapid recovery	Fibrocartilage formation potential Variable functional outcomes Rapid deterioration
Mosaicoplasty	Osteochondral autografts harvested from patient non-loaded zones of the joint	Optimal for small lesions (1–4 cm2) Pain relief	Sub-optimal surrounding tissue graft adherence Graft-site morbidity
ACI 2	Autologous cultured and expanded chondrocytes implanted in the lesion under a tissue flap	Hyaline cartilage formation potential Extensive lesion treatment (<10 cm2)	Graft delamination Periosteal hypertrophy Qualitative variability of regenerated tissue Onerous protocol
MACI 3	Autologous cultured and expanded chondrocytes seeded onto 3D scaffolds and implanted into defect	Treatment of large lesions Hyaline cartilage formation potential Limited periosteal hypertrophy	Graft delamination Limited integration Qualitative variability of regenerated tissue Onerous protocol
Joint arthroplasty	Replacement of arthritic joint with an artificial implant	Pain relief Functional resurgence potential	Infectious risk Functional outcome variability Implant wear or loosening

¹ Microfracture, ² Autologous chondrocyte implantation, ³ Matrix-assisted autologous chondrocyte transplantation.