Cartilage Regeneration | Frank's Story

Frank had a a torn ACL and a meniscus tear in his knee. The first doctor he saw told him he needed a knee replacement, and would eventually need to stop his very active lifestyle. Frank wasn't ready for that. Instead, he came to Penn Sports Medicine for a second opinion. He met James Carey, MD, who told him about a procedure called autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI).

In ACI, a tiny piece of cartilage was taken from Frank's knee and sent to a lab in which it grew millions of cells. Once it was ready, Dr. Carey repaired Frank's ACL tear, and re-implanted his knee cartilage. Today, Frank is back to his healthy lifestyle working out at his CrossFit gym and running.

Get our guide to lower-body injuries, pain and treatment: https://goo.gl/8xb9Mr
Meet James Carey, MD, Director of the Penn Center for Cartilage Repair: http://goo.gl/v0XUTK
Watch more videos from Penn Orthopaedics: https://goo.gl/PK00MQ
Schedule an appointment with a Penn sports medicine specialist: https://goo.gl/8xb9Mr