Effects of Unloader Bracing in Clinical Outcome and Cartilage Physiology Following Microfracture of Chondral Defects

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Cartilage Loss, Microfracture

In brief

The study will examine clinical and radiographic outcomes of microfracture surgery (a common technique to address isolated areas of cartilage loss) in the knee used with or without unloader bracing. Randomly selected patients will wear an unloader brace, which is designed to take pressure off the area of the knee which underwent repair, for several weeks after surgery. Our hypothesis is that bracing may improve clinical and or radiographic outcomes. The surgery performed will be the same for all patients The length of follow up and schedule of post-operative MRI will be the same for all patients. The only difference in groups will be presence of absence of brace wear.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT02016300

Run by

Stanford University

People needed

24

Starts

2013-01-01

Expected to finish

2018-06-01

Last updated by the study team

2019-06-27

Who can join

Age: 15 and older, up to 40. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

• isolated chondral defect of medial or lateral femoral condyle 2cm squared or less
• age 15-40
• neutral knee alignment

You may not qualify if…

• prior cartilage procedures performed in the same knee
• other significant knee pathology including meniscus tears, ligament tears or inflammatory arthritis

Where it is running

• Stanford University Medical Center — Redwood City, California, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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