Retroarticular Drilling with Supplemental Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate for the Treatment of Osteochondritis Dissecans of the Knee
Authors: Davidson Kelsey , Grimm Nathan L. , Christino Melissa A. , Willimon S. Clifton , Busch Michael T. 
Published: July 2018

Objectives:

Osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) is an idiopathic alteration of the subchondral bone which may lead to early osteoarthritis. This condition is commonly seen in the knee and is more common in young, athletic individuals. Several techniques have been developed to address the variable presentation of OCD in the knee, each with varying results. To our knowledge the use of autogenous bone marrow supplementation to an OCD lesion has not been described. The purpose of this study was to determine the radiographic healing of OCD lesions of the knee in a cohort of young, active patients who underwent retroarticular drilling of an OCD lesion with supplemental back-filling with bone marrow aspirate concentrate as an adjuvant to facilitate healing.

Methods:

We evaluated adolescent patients who were diagnosed with OCD of the knee who had previously failed non-operative, conservative treatment. All subjects underwent retroarticular drilling of the knee with supplemental back-filling of the lesion with bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC®), harvested from the ilium, by two Orthopaedic Surgeons from a single institution. Based off previously published definitions, lesions were assigned as small if < 320 mm2 or large >320 mm2. All lesions were then followed radiographically for evidence of healing. Healing was graded based off the ROCK (Research in OsteoChondritis of the Knee) group radiographic healing criteria, which has shown excellent reliability. The healing was rated by two independent reviewers and when disagreements were noted a third reviewer was brought in to facilitate group consensus on healing.

Results:

52 lesions in 49 patients were included in the study. 26 right knees, 26 left knees with 41 lesions located on the medial femoral condyle and 11 lesions located on the lateral femoral condyle. The mean age of the subjects was 12.5 (10 - 17) years old. 30 subjects were male, 19 were female. All lesions were categorized as immobile lesions based off the ROCK Arthroscopy Classification. The average OCD lesion size was 407 mm2 (132 - 899 mm2), respectively. The mean amount of BMAC® used per OCD lesion was 60 mL (45 - 120 mL). 40 lesions (76.9%) were rated as healed at a mean of 10.6 (2 - 32) months. 10 lesions (18.9%) were rated as 25-75% healed and 3.8% were rated at 0 - 25% healed at latest follow-up. 76.5% of large lesions were rated as healed at final follow-up. Whereas 77.8% of small lesions were rated as healed at final follow-up. There were three complications (1 rash from skin glue, 1 suture abscess, and 1 contact dermatitis from surgical cleansing prep) however no complications were noted from the surgical intervention or BMAC®.

Conclusion:

Overall healing rates with surgical treatment of OCD lesions that have failed non-operative interventions are variable. For immobile lesions, mainstay treatment options include retroarticular and transarticular drilling. Based off previous definitions of lesion size, the mean lesion size in our cohort would be categorized as “large” with 65% of our lesions falling into this category. Previously published series have shown that large lesions are significantly less likely to heal. Despite this we showed a 76.5% healing rate for large lesions. Overall, the adjuvant supplementation of BMAC® as back-fill for retrograde drilling of large OCD lesions of the knee has shown excellent results with no serious complications associated with its use. Future randomized trials are necessary to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of this treatment method.