Minced Cartilage Implantation for a Cystic Defect on the Femoral Head—Technical Note

Chondral injuries of the femoral head and their possible progression to osteoarthritis is well known. Regarding focal lesions in young patients, microfracturing or autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) are the most frequent used techniques to address them. Although ACI provides the better tissue quality, it is a two-step procedure and needs a lot of resources. Mincing cartilage is an old technique that has become popular again over the last few years, with good short-term results in threatening cartilage lesion in the knee. It seems intriguing to transfer this technique to the hip because you can harvest good-quality cartilage from the cam lesion, and it is a one-step procedure using autologous thrombin and fibrin. This technical note describes the repair of a parafoveal chondral defect using minced cartilage via surgical dislocation of the hip.