What should you know about this Glendale guide?

What can these pages do for you?

One damaged cartilage spot may allow repair, while wear across the knee may not. Ask whether your scan shows one spot or broad wear.

Also ask whether an earlier operation changed the available choices. This general information can't rule out infection, a major injury or another cause.

Medical advice can change as new facts appear. Ask which exam finding matters most for your next step at home, and why.

When does other care come first?

Prompt care comes first when fever, heat and knee swelling happen together. A locked knee or sudden swelling after a hard injury also needs quick attention.

General information can't replace an exam for those problems. Another medical view may help when the surgery choice or long recovery remains unclear.

What if the soreness doesn't settle?

The people behind this guide also own QC Kinetix clinics in the Phoenix area. The same business may benefit when someone books through the clinic link.

Clinic staff discuss regenerative treatment options, non-surgical care made with parts of your blood. This care isn't an operation that covers a deep cartilage hole.

Ask whether it aims to ease soreness or make walking, stairs and errands easier each day. Also ask the full cost, the follow-up schedule and what happens if it doesn't help.

Sources

1. At 14 to 15 years, the Norwegian multicentre randomised trial of 80 patients with a single symptomatic femoral condyle cartilage defect found no significant difference between autologous chondrocyte implantation and microfracture on any clinical scoring system. There were 17 failures in the ACI group versus 13 after microfracture, and more total knee replacements had been needed after ACI (6 versus 3).

   Knutsen G, et al. — A Randomized Multicenter Trial Comparing Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation with Microfracture: Long-Term Follow-up at 14 to 15 Years.. J Bone Joint Surg Am, 2016. DOI: 10.2106/JBJS.15.01208.

2. In the SUMMIT randomised trial, 144 patients with at least one symptomatic Outerbridge grade III-IV knee defect of 3 cm2 or more (mean lesion 4.8 cm2, mean age 33.8) were randomised to MACI or microfracture. At two years, improvements in KOOS pain (37.0 to 82.5 versus 35.5 to 70.9) and function (14.9 to 60.9 versus 12.6 to 48.7) were significantly greater with MACI.

   Saris D, et al. — Matrix-Applied Characterized Autologous Cultured Chondrocytes Versus Microfracture: Two-Year Follow-up of a Prospective Randomized Trial.. Am J Sports Med, 2014. DOI: 10.1177/0363546514528093.

3. At five years, 128 of the 144 SUMMIT patients remained in follow-up and MACI's advantage over microfracture on the co-primary KOOS pain and function endpoint was maintained and remained statistically significant (P = .022), with activities of daily living also significantly better (P = .007).

   Brittberg M, et al. — Matrix-Applied Characterized Autologous Cultured Chondrocytes Versus Microfracture: Five-Year Follow-up of a Prospective Randomized Trial.. Am J Sports Med, 2018. DOI: 10.1177/0363546518756976.

4. The ACTIVE randomised trial assigned 390 patients aged 18-55 whose previous cartilage surgery had failed to autologous chondrocyte implantation or alternative surgical management. At five years there was NO evidence of a difference in Lysholm score (2.9 points, 95% CI -1.8 to 7.5; P = .46), about 55% were still experiencing benefit in the ACI arm, time to cessation of benefit was similar, and significantly more participants had a serious adverse event with ACI (P = .02). Previous marrow stimulation had a detrimental effect on ACI outcome.

   Snow M, et al. — A Randomized Trial of Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation Versus Alternative Forms of Surgical Cartilage Management in Patients With a Failed Primary Treatment for Chondral or Osteochondral Defects in the Knee.. Am J Sports Med, 2023. DOI: 10.1177/03635465221141907.

5. At ten years the same 390-patient ACTIVE trial found the ACI arm scored significantly higher on Lysholm (mean difference 7.3 points, 95% CI 2.5 to 12.1), while ten-year treatment failure rates were comparable at 29% versus 25% (HR 1.04). A sensitivity analysis accounting for later operations reduced the advantage to 3.8 points (95% CI -1.8 to 9.5). The five-year and ten-year readouts of the same trial point in different directions, which is why a single follow-up point should never be quoted alone.

   Snow M, et al. — Ten year follow-up of a randomized trial of autologous chondrocyte implantation versus alternative forms of surgical cartilage management in the knee.. Osteoarthritis Cartilage, 2026. DOI: 10.1016/j.joca.2026.03.112.