image: Clinical procedure for adhesive-hydrogel implantation into a cartilage defect. Both schematics and actual patient images are shown for the final steps. (A) A mini-incision approach was created to expose the cartilage defect. The defect edges were debrided to remove any dead tissue at the cartilage edge. (B) The adhesive was then applied to the base and walls of the defect followed by surgical microfracture. (C) Last, the hydrogel solution was injected into the defect and photopolymerized in situ with light. (D) Bleeding from the microfracture holes was trapped in and around the hydrogel. This image relates to a paper that appeared in the Jan. 9, 2013, issue of Science Translational Medicine, published by AAAS. The paper, by B. Sharma at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., and colleagues was titled, “Human Cartilage Repair with a Photoreactive Adhesive-Hydrogel Composite.” view more
Credit: Image courtesy of <i>Science Translational Medicine</i>/AAAS