Doctors appointments and imaging studies quickly followed and showed a 2 cm x 2 cm "chondral defect" (in other words, a big old HOLE) on the back of my patella. Essentially, the very tough cartilage on the back of my kneecap was chipped off down to the bone. The pieces of cartilage were floating around my knee. Naively, I thought, "They'll just take those pieces out and it will right up heal up!" No such luck. If you're over about 13, your cartilage does not regenerate. And it turns out that this cartilage on the back of your patella is pretty darned important. It protects the other surfaces in your knee. Without it, you're fairly quickly a candidate for a knee replacement. Thus began my odyssey into the tricky world of articular cartilage injuries.
When the MRI results came back, the doctors used words like "tough injury", "not too many options", and "no guarantees". In fact, when I asked some direct questions about outcomes and prognosis, my surgeon actually shrugged his shoulders. But then he brought up....an option...
Denovo NT is a relatively new option for cartilage repair. It consists of juvenile cartilage cells that are glued into the cartilage defect with fibrin glue. These cells are harvested from cadavers of children under 13. Macabre, yet a beautiful gift to be given if you happen to need them. The idea is that these young cells will regenerate and incorporate with your own remaining cartilage to ultimately fill the defect.
As this was really the only option presented, I elected to proceed, but not without caution. I am a healthy, active, young woman and a former athlete. I am also a nurse. I had a lot of questions. I kicked into high gear and sought out information from every available source. I spoke with the rep from Zimmer. I spoke with a surgeon in Virginia who has done many of these cases. I scoured the internet for data and reassurance. At the end of the day, I agree this was my best option.
I had surgery on 10/21/2013 and am now a little more than 4 weeks post op. It is my intention to document my experience, my progress, and share any of my lessons learned in the hope of helping someone else in the same situation.
