Engineered cartilage grafts versus standard surgery for knee cartilage damage

This trial is testing a new surgical treatment called N-TEC (nasal chondrocyte-based tissue engineered cartilage) for people with osteoarthritis in the front part of the knee. N-TEC uses cells from your own nose that are grown in a lab and placed on a special collagen membrane to create new cartilage tissue, which is then surgically implanted into your damaged knee. The study will compare this treatment to standard surgical options to see which works best for reducing pain and improving knee function.

Cartilage damage in the front of the knee is a common cause of pain and disability affecting millions of people worldwide. Current surgical treatments have limited ability to regenerate damaged cartilage, so researchers are testing whether lab-grown cartilage tissue can better repair the damage and restore normal knee function.