OATS Procedure

What is cartilage damage in the joint?

Cartilage damage in the ankle or knee usually has an accident or trauma as a cause. The joint kinks or it is twisted creating a distortion injury. The following damages can occur during this accident:

• Elongation or rupture of the external or internal ligaments on the ankle which are responsible for joint guidance.
• Damage to bones and cartilage caused by very high mechanical pressures due to twisting of the ankle. In extreme cases, talus or ankle fork may also break causing ankle fracture.

Germanten Hospital focuses on the new possibilities of cartilage therapy following the development of bone cartilage damage due to an ankle sprain or mal-position of the talus in the ankle joint.

What is an osteochondral lesion (bone-cartilage damage)?

Distortion (twisting or kinking) of the ankle often causes complex damage in the cartilage tissue, but also in the bone tissue. These complex bone cartilage lesions are also referred to as osteochondral lesions. An osteochondral lesion can cause osteoarthritis in the ankle over the long term. Therefore, especially in young patients, the question arises how this can be treated.

What is a cartilage bone graft or OATS?

In contrast to cartilage transplantation, round cartilage bone cylinders are removed and transplanted from a slightly stressed region of a joint (often knee joint).

The cartilage-bone cylinder consists of bone and intact cartilage cover. Similar to piles used in house construction, this cylinder is pressed into swampy terrain into a solid bone background of cartilaginous bone damage. Several of these cylinders can be used in case of significant damage. If several of these cartilage-bone-cylinders are placed next to each other, this affects the viewer like a mosaic of circular cartilage lids. Therefore, this type of cartilage therapy is called mosaicplasty.

What goals would you like to achieve with the body's own cartilage bone grafting?

Cartilage bone grafting aims to replace cartilage damage with as much as possible 'full' cartilage. This is intended to maintain the joint and prevent rapid osteoarthritis. The replacement of dead bone is also sought. The restoration of painless joint function is the primary goal of the operation.

Who can benefit from cartilage bone grafting in the ankle joint?

Patients who have suffered circumscribed cartilage damage or cavitation under the cartilage due to an accident are perfect candidates for OATS procedure.

Germanten Hospital Expertise

At Germanten Hospital this groundbreaking surgery is performed under the supervision of Dr. Mir Jawad Zar Khan. He has been able to reverse several cases of cartilage damage and restore complete function to the joint using OATS procedure.