There are a few research projects looking to improve treatments.

Knee replacement: Pretty standard at this point, where a surgeon surgically removes the knee joint and replaces it with a mechanical joint made from metal and plastic.

Membrane-induced Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation (MACI): Harvest cartilage-producing cells and let them multiply in a lab, then surgically implant them at high concentrations in joints where there is a need.

Osteochondral Grafting: graft some bone and cartilage from another part of the body, or from a donor.

Osteoarticular Transfer System (OATS) Procedure: Move non-load-bearing cartilage to load-bearing parts of the same joint. Only works with smaller injured sites.

Platelet Rich Plasma/Stem Cell treatments: plasma and other blood products are extracted from blood, with high concentrations of platelets and growth factors, sometimes adult stem cells that can still differentiate into bone or cartilage, and then inserted into areas that can use regeneration. They can use physical scaffolds to help the cells attach to the right places, and the stuff in the plasma ends up helping it regenerate cartilage in the right places. This remains an area of very active research.

There are also some more exotic avenues of active research. One I read about recently was a Columbia University project, funded by ARPA-H, in creating knee replacements made from a patient’s own biological tissue, grown into a load bearing knee joint, to be inserted surgically the same way an artificial knee would be, only made out of cells grown from the patient themself.

It’s an active area of development, and I’m pretty excited about what they might be able to accomplish in our lifetimes.