Investigation of microstructural alterations of the human subchondral bone following microfracture penetration reveals effect of three‐dimensional device morphology

摘要

Small articular cartilage defects are commonly treated with microfracture. 1–4 Forcing the tip of a microfrac- ture awl into the debrided subchondral bone creates a canal, through which migrating mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) induce repair. 5 When the device passes, peri- hole trabeculae are compacted with contiguous microfrac- tures.Here,weinvestigatetheeffectsofthree-dimensional (3D) instrument characteristics on bone microstructure. We hypothesized that (a) 3D tip design varies signifi- cantly, (b) morphological differences translate into differ- ent effects on the human subchondral bone microstruc- ture,and(c)spatialparameterscorrelatewithsubchondral bone changes.