Researchers have conducted the first human tests of transplants to repair damaged knees using cartilage cells harvested from the noses of a small number of patients. More specifically, every year around 2 million people across Europe and the U.S. are diagnosed with damage to articular cartilage. Current options include microfracture surgery, which involves piercing very small holes near the damaged cartilage to stimulate a healing response, or transplanting patients' own articular cartilage cells, such as from the other knee. In this new approach, Swiss researchers used engineered cartilage tissue grown from subjects' own nasal septums. "Overall, this first-in-human trial represents an important advance towards less invasive, cell-based repair technologies for articular cartilage defects," they wrote.

Source: CBC News October 20, 2016 22:30 UTC