New method of treating damaged cartilage of the knee
Tell us, dr Gavrilović, what is revolutionary new regarding the treatment of the knee?
It is unique implant in the world that is made of corals that comes from the South Sea that has aragonite presence with multipotent properties to attract cartilage cells from healthy tissue around it that covers the implant.
We currently participate in the large study and have excellent results. This study is implemented in 45 countries including USA with the approval of US food and drug administration. It is important to emphasize that this is the first time that in one private hospital in Serbia similar type of intervention is performed.
You have knee issue, pains, you have weak mobility, you have an injury or you have degenerative changes and too much weight
In the last 5 years more than 120 patients were treated, and 97% of them have excellent results. This is very important for the athletes because more then 90% of the operated athletes is back on the field and continue to perform the training without any problem.
Dr. Nir, can you tell us more about the coral implant?
“We have developed an implant that can regenerate cartilage and bone within the knee. We cover a variety of pathologies from isolated defects to severe degenerative changes in the knee. In Serbia, more than 150 patients have received our implants and we are very pleased with the results as well as the work of Serbian surgeons. The skill and knowledge of your surgeons is at a very high level and I hope that we will continue to have such a good collaboration with Dr. Gavrilovic and the Atlas General Hospital team, ”said Dr. Nir Altuscher (founder and CEO of Carti-Hill / Carti-Hill Company)
Who is a candidate for this method of damaged cartilage repair?
All patients aged 18-60 with cartilage injuries, with damaged cartilage cover inside the knee (but not diffuse osteoarthritis, not the knees that are totally damaged), can be handled very well with this implant. Of course, there are certain conditions- not to be very obese, not to have some serious illnesses…
The best choice of patients for this are those who have a fresh cartilage lesion, athletes, people between 30-40 years usually respond fantastic to this type of treatment.
This method , above all others, certainly belongs 10 years to the future. I do not expect that it will still go into commercial use for another 3-4 years. It is necessary to complete the whole study, to operate more than 1000 patients worldwide, to complete all licenses that are in operation and I expect it to be in commercial use in Serbia in 3 years.
Patients who were operated 5 years ago, whose condition are closely monitored, reported no problems to us, and our team is overwhelmed.
Diffuse osteoarthritic changes that engulfed the entire knee are not for this method, in which case we apply other types of surgery that can prevent pain because in such patients pain is the biggest problem. This is a method used in isolated lesions where we can solve the problem of loss of cartilage of 2-3 cm2 that later leads to that knee, which we talk about as osteoarthritic in older people. If the problem is resolved at that age, then we have avoided a knee prosthesis.
If answered on time, this method will help you keep your knee in check forever. Atlas is the first private hospital in Serbia to be included in a study sponsored and controlled by the FDA Agency – a worldwide recognized surgical study.
