Treatment of cartilage baldness
The therapy of cartilage baldness aims at allowing the cartilage to grow back over the bone. There are various methods for this. One can either try to cultivate cartilage cells from the body’s own stem cells.
Alternatively, a foreign donation is also possible. These cells can usually be injected into the affected joint during arthroscopic surgery. Microfracturing is also a therapeutic approach.
Here, the bone of the joint is provided with several holes. This should stimulate the bone to form bone and cartilage replacement material. In addition, a symptomatic therapy with painkillers can be performed.
It is also advisable to maintain controlled physical activity. This will also stimulate the joint to form new cartilage material. However, overloading should be avoided.
A prosthesis can be used as a joint replacement if the affected joint is damaged to such an extent that conservative treatment can hardly improve the symptoms. With a joint prosthesis, both bony parts of the joint are replaced by artificial material. The prostheses used should be as lifelike as possible so that the same movements are possible as with a body-own joint.
A small exception in prosthetics is the knee joint. This consists of several individual parts of the joint. These can be replaced individually with partial prostheses.
For example, in the case of isolated damage to the inner surface of the knee joint, only one sled prosthesis can be used. The outer part of the knee joint remains intact in this case. At this point it is important that you deal with the main topic “prosthesis” with the help of our articles and thus receive sufficient information:
- Causes that lead to amputation
- The most important facts about prosthetic fitting
Prognosis
Cartilage baldness is a very advanced form of cartilage damage that is irreversible. However, it is possible to treat the condition with various therapeutic options and thus slow down the progression of the disease.
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