What is the cause of osteochondritis?

What is the cause of osteochondritis?

Osteochondritis dissecans is a bone and cartilage condition that most often occurs in the knee. It has no known cause, but repetitive stress on the joint, low vitamin D and a genetic predisposition are often linked to this condition.

Can osteochondral fracture heal?

Because osteochondral fractures involve the subchondral bone, there is the potential that some of these injuries may heal without intervention. Non-operative treatment of these lesions generally involves a period of non- or restricted- weight bearing and joint protection.

What causes bone fragments in knee?

Loose bodies are fragments of cartilage or bone that freely float inside the knee joint space. They can be the result of an injury or from generalized wear and tear over time. Depending on the severity of the condition, there can be one or many loose bodies inside the joint.

Can osteochondritis come back?

Osteochondritis dissecans usually doesn’t return once the patient heals. However, sometimes the condition only seems to heal as symptoms go away temporarily. In those cases, symptoms can return in time.

What is osteochondral fragment?

An osteochondral fragment is a descriptive term given for a small separated segment of bone and cartilage. It may or may not be displaced. It can be associated with an osteochondral defect and can occur from many pathologies ranging from an osteochondral fracture (acute) to osteochondritis dissecans.

Is an osteochondral lesion painful?

A patient with an osteochondral lesion will often feel a dull ache in the joint and may also experience a mild locking or clicking of their knee or ankle joint. The affected joint may also seem to be loose.

Can bone fragments cause pain?

Loose bodies are small loose fragments of cartilage or a bone that float around the joint. They can cause pain, swelling, locking and catching of the joint.

How do they remove a bone spur on the knee?

Arthroscopic Osteophyte Excision: This surgery involves a small incision in the knee joint where various medical tools are inserted to shave down bone spurs thought to be driving knee dysfunction. This surgery is recommended only in very specific scenarios and does not provide a long term solution.

What happens when a bone fragment breaks off?

This takes place in a joint when the articulating cartilage (chondro) and part of the underlying bone (osteo) breaks off of the bone itself and become a fragment. If the fragment stays in place it is considered stable, but if it breaks loose then it is labeled as unstable.

What causes osteochondral fragments in the knee?

Fixation of Osteochondral Fragments. Introduction. Osteochondral fragments can occur in any synovial joint, but they are most commonly encountered in the knee. Typical etiologies include osteochondritis dissecans, trauma (such as the result of patellar dislocation), or nonunion of periarticular fracture.

How is an osteochondral fracture (OA) diagnosed?

If an osteochondral fracture is suspected then an X-ray may be undertaken to confirm the diagnosis. Fragments are not always clear on an X-ray and so an MRI or CT scan may be used instead. Osteochondral Fractures are also sometimes known as articular cartilage injuries.

When is adjunctive fixation indicated for osteochondral grafts?

In cartilage repair procedures, the osteochondral graft may require fixation depending on the inherent stability, size, and location of the graft. To our knowledge, no quantitative measures of graft stability are available to assist the surgeon in deciding when to perform adjunctive fixation.