Cartilage Damage

The investigators would like to study the differences in the quality of Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) between two different machines in those with knee osteoarthritis. Knee osteoarthritis means your cartilage has been worn down, and it affects your knee joint. Both machines, the APEX Biologix XCELL PRP System and the Emcyte PurePRP Supraphysiologic Concentrating System, are FDA approved, commercially available, and makes PRP. The investigators will check if the platelets in the PRP have different amounts or work differently. The investigators will also assess participants symptoms after the injection and compare the two different preparation systems.

The goal of this observational study is to learn if combining ultrasound and CT scans can better diagnose cartilage fractures in the ribs, and to understand how finding these injuries affects treatment decisions for patients with injuries to the Chest wall. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Does using both ultrasound and CT scans find more costal cartilage fractures than CT scans alone? * Does discovering costal cartilage fractures change how patients are treated, such as whether more patients receive surgery or if different fractures are repaired? * How do costal cartilage fractures heal, and do they affect lung function, pain, or the risk of complications after surgery? Patients with cartilage injuries will be followed up at 1, 3, and 12 months after their injury. They will be checked for pain, instability, and healing using ultrasound and sometimes CT scans. The study will also assess lung function, quality of life, and pain levels.

Testing the safety and efficacy of MSC from umbilical cord tissue (UC-MSC) for the treatment of cartilage damage in the knee joint

Joints-comprising bone, cartilage, ligaments, and synovial fluid-enable stable daily movement but may deteriorate with age, excess body weight, overuse, injury, or disease. Such degeneration, common from age 40 onward, underlies joint disorders like osteoarthritis, particularly in the knees, hips, hands, and spine, and is a major cause of chronic pain and disability. While antiinflammatory analgesics remain the standard approach to symptom control, they neither cure disease nor regenerate cartilage and can produce significant long-term adverse effects (gastrointestinal, hepatic, renal, and cardiovascular). These limitations motivate interest in natural or complementary strategies with safer profiles. Within this context, marine algae, especially agar derived from red seaweed, have attracted attention for potential intestinal, metabolic, and joint benefits, aided by their fiber content. Another promising option is undenatured type II collagen (UC-II), the principal structural component of articular cartilage, whose endogenous production declines with age; clinical studies indicate that a daily intake of 40 mg UC-II can improve mobility, reduce pain, and enhance quality of life in individuals with osteoarthritis or exercise-related joint discomfort. Based on these considerations, an agar-agar supplement has been developed to relieve knee joint symptoms.

Articular cartilage lesions, with their inherent limited healing potential, remain a challenging problem for orthopaedic surgeons. Various techniques, both palliative and reparative, have been used to treat this injury with variable success rates. If not adequately treated, they may even lead to the development of early-onset osteoarthritis. Among all the available techniques, microfractures are used in restoring the cartilage tissue, especially in the deep and extended lesions. More recently, the need for minor bone trauma with still adequate bleeding resulted in the development of nanofractures. Nanofracturing means creating perforations with a smaller diameter that go deeper into the bone while damaging it less. This is supposed to reduce the injury to the subchondral bone and increase the amount of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells at the bone surface. Thus, the aim of this pilot study is to evaluate the efficacy of nanofractures for the treatment of cartilage lesions of the knee, specifically focusing on the chondral healing that will be addressed with magnetic resonance imaging.

The goal of this randomized controlled clinical trial is to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of the BioPoly® Partial Resurfacing Knee Implant for the treatment of cartilage defects of the distal femur in adult patients with knee pain and symptoms who are candidates for surgical intervention of the knee compared to outcomes for the control group. The primary effectiveness endpoint is Month 24 composite clinical success (CCS) defined by: * no secondary surgical intervention (SSI) and * an improvement from baseline in the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) total score (scaled 0 to 100) of at least 10 points. Researchers will compare the CCS for the investigational device group to a control group receiving the standard of care, either microfracture or debridement). Subjects randomized to the investigational group will receive the BioPoly Knee device and those randomized to the control group will receive the current standard of care, either microfracture or debridement.

The aim of this study is to investigate the point or nonsense of treating cartilage lesions at the level of the first metatarsophalane joint. To date, no clear guidelines have been found in the literature with regard to the treatment of cartilage lesions at the MTP I joint during corrective surgery for hallux valgus, nor has it been investigated whether this can have an effect on the clinical outcome.