Survival Rates of Various Autologous Chondrocyte Grafts and Concomitant Procedures. A Prospective Single-Center Study over 18 Years

Seven different autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) grafts were used consecutively over a period of 18 years for the treatment of cartilage lesions in the knees. The aim was to evaluate this entire ACI patient series for graft-related or unrelated serious adverse events (SAE), graft failures, and to reveal potential risk factors for these incidents. The study group comprised 151 operated patients: classical periosteum-ACI (n = 45); ACI-seeded fibrin-collagen patch, fixed by either periosteum (n = 59), collagen membrane (n = 15), or fibrin glue (n = 6); ACI seeded alginate-agarose hydrogel (n = 14); and biomimetic collagen-hydroxyapatite scaffold injected with the ACI suspension (n = 12). The covariates analyzed as possible predicting factors were: age, gender, BMI, lesion depth, lesion size, lesion location, previous surgeries, and concomitant procedures. The Kaplan-Meier method for estimating survival curves, and Cox's proportional hazards model to test for covariates, were used in the statistical analysis. The patients in this series, follow-up 10.1 (2.1-18.3) years, encountered 11% of graft-related SAE (risk factors: previous cartilage surgery, age over 40 years, BMI over 25 kg/m(2), and meniscus surgery) and 10% of graft unrelated SAE (risk factors: meniscus surgery and osteotomy). None of these factors was a risk for definitive graft failure. The 10-year graft survival rate was 86%. Females had 2.8 times higher incidence of graft failures than males. There was a tendency toward higher graft failures after a previous cartilage surgery. Different ACI graft types offered safe and durable cartilage repair. Female gender, age over 40 years, increased weight, previous cartilage surgery, and meniscus loss showed increased risk for revision surgery or graft failures.