Serum levels of hyaluronic acid and chondroitin sulfate as a non-invasive method to evaluate healing after cartilage repair procedures

Magnetic resonance imaging remains the only non-invasive method to assess the quality of cartilage repair procedures, but ideally would be complemented by other modalities, particularly blood tests. Nganvongpanit and colleagues investigated serum levels of hyaluronic acid (HA) and chondroitin sulfate (CS) for their correlation with tissue quality after cartilage repair with autologous chondrocytes versus subchondral drilling in a dog model. They reported better tissue quality in animals treated with chondrocyte implantation. Serum levels correlated with the histological score of biopsy samples: CS showed a negative (r = -0.69) and HA a positive (r = +0.46) correlation. Many questions remain to be answered before serum markers can provide a reliable, non-invasive tool to assess tissue quality, but these data provide an important foundation for additional research.