Management of Chondral Lesions of the Knee: Analysis of Trends and Short-Term Complications Using the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program Database.

PURPOSE: To provide updated surgical trends of cartilage procedures differentiated by the classic groups of palliative, repair, and restorative modalities.

METHODS: The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database was queried from 2010-2016 for the following cartilage procedures: chondroplasty, microfracture, arthroscopic osteochondral autograft or allograft transplantation, open osteochondral autograft or allograft transplantation, and autologous chondrocyte implantation. Demographic variables and short-term (30-day) complications were analyzed with 1-way analysis of variance and post hoc analysis. Linear regression analysis was performed to analyze trends over time.

RESULTS: A total of 15,609 procedures performed between 2010 and 2016 were analyzed. On average, 342.2 ± 27.9 cartilage procedures were performed per 100,000 operations. There was a linear increase in the management of overall cartilage procedures per 100,000 operations (P = .002). There were also linear increases in arthroscopic osteochondral autograft transplantation, arthroscopic osteochondral allograft transplantation, open osteochondral autograft transplantation, open osteochondral allograft transplantation, and autologous chondrocyte implantation (P < .001, P = .037, P = .001, P = .006, and P = .002, respectively). Meniscectomy was the most frequently performed concomitant procedure (9.7%-64.2% of cases). Chondroplasty and microfracture showed no change in frequency over time (P = .140 and P = .720, respectively). The overall complication rate was 2.1% for chondroplasty, 1.4% for microfracture, 1.8% for arthroscopic osteochondral autograft transplantation, 1.0% for arthroscopic osteochondral allograft transplantation, 1.4% for open osteochondral autograft transplantation, 1.1% for open osteochondral allograft transplantation, and 0.75% for autologous chondrocyte implantation. Deep vein thrombosis was the most common complication, occurring in 0.4% to 1.0% of cases. No statistically significant difference was found in complication rates between procedures (P = .105).

CONCLUSIONS: Cartilage restoration is becoming an increasingly popular modality to address chondral defects. Minimal complication rates suggest that these procedures may be safely performed concomitantly with other interventions.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV, retrospective database analysis.