Young Patient Who Could Not Walk Due to Cartilage Damage Recovered With Cartilage Transplantation

Dental assistant Büşra Şükriye Şahin (41) applied to the doctor in 2020 due to the pain in the knee, which first affected her work life and then prevented her from walking. Despite the treatments carried out, Şahin, who still had complaints, has undergone cartilage transplantation from the donor by Orthopedics and Traumatology Specialist Prof. Dr. Gökhan Meriç and his team.
Despite his young age, Büşra Şükriye Şahin, who had difficulty in continuing her daily life due to cartilage damage in the knee, was able to return to her old life with the cartilage transplantation performed by the donor.  Yeditepe University Hospitals  Orthopedics and Traumatology Specialist Prof. Dr. Gökhan Meriç and his team operated Şahin.

“I Had Trouble Walking Straight Road”

Şahin, who works as a dental assistant, stated that severe knee pain, which started in 2020, first affected her work life and then her walking.
“While I did not take the pain seriously at first, it started to affect both my daily life and my work schedule. I was no longer able to walk straight. When I climbed 10-15 stairs, my pain increased, and I could not walk. So I decided that I needed to be operated on. In 2021, closed surgery was performed so that I could get through that period more easily. My pain did not go away and my complaints continued.  Prof. Dr. stated I was a suitable candidate for cartilage transplantation and explained the treatment. We have decided to do a cartilage transplant from the donor. Meanwhile, the search for a donor started and the transplant was carried out with the support of the Ministry of Health Tissue Transplantation Unit to the finding of a suitable donor. ”

“Our Patient Had Extensive Cartilage Damage To the Patella” 

Stating that Şahin, who returned to her normal life in a short time after the surgery, is in good health now, Prof. Dr. Gökhan Meriç explained the process as follows: 
“Our patient, who is a nurse, applied to us 2 years ago with the complaint of severe pain in the knee, especially when going up and down the stairs. In our initial examinations, we found that our patient had extensive cartilage damage to the patella. Since she had never been treated before, we first applied exercise and injection treatment. However, the pain did not go away. Then we performed a closed surgery to revive and heal the cartilage. In this process, we noticed that although the patient's complaints decreased, the pain did not completely go away. She still had difficulty doing her daily work. Since our patient is younger, cartilage damage is located in the wide part of the knee, and other treatments are not successful at the desired level, we planned to perform fresh cartilage transplantation on our patient.

“Now I Can Walk Without Pain”

Şahin said that she completed the physical therapy process after the surgery. “My physical therapy lasted about three weeks. Then I started to walk comfortably with crutches. After the second month of my surgery, I returned to my business life. Now I can stand, walk on the road, do my sport, and go swimming, in short, I can perform all my activities easily. I am so happy.” 

“We aim To Ensure The Continuity of Cartilage”

Stating that cartilage transplantation is a tissue transplant just like organ transplantation, Prof. Dr. Gökhan Meriç gave the following information about the transplantation process: “Any donor can donate their tissues as well as their organs. We take the cartilage from these tissues, perform the tests, store the tissues, and perform the tests in the laboratories approved by the Ministry of Health and transplant the cartilage to the patients without losing its vitality. Our goal is to ensure the continuity of the cartilage and try to protect our patients as much as possible from larger surgical operations in the future. ”

“Serious damage that may occur in the future can be prevented with cartilage transplantation” 

Stating that the chance of success of cartilage transplantation is quite high, Prof. Dr. Gökhan Meriç said, “Research shows that the 10-year survival rate of tissues is 80-85%. It is a treatment to prevent serious cartilage damage that may require a prosthesis in the future in someone with cartilage damage at a young age. By replacing a specific area of the knee, we try to prevent serious damage to the entire knee in the future. However, it is not an alternative for patients with advanced cartilage abrasion that requires a prosthesis on the knee. " 

No Need for Tissue Integration

Referring to important issues related to tissue transplants, Prof. Dr. Meriç stated that there is a need for tissue integration in organ transplantation, but there is no need for this harmony in the transplantation of tissues such as cartilage, and continued as follows: "Because our cartilages are fed from joint fluid. Since it is fed from joint fluid, we do not need tissue harmony or blood group harmony in these patients. After cartilage transplantation, we do not give a drug treatment to patients as it is done in organ transplantation. After the treatment, we start painkiller or antibiotic treatment and send them home. ”

“Tissue Transplantation is Very Important Along with Organ Transplantation” 

Underlining that organ transplantation is very important, but tissue transplantation is at least as important as organ transplantation, Orthopedics and Traumatology specialist Prof. Dr. Meriç said, “There are people who need these tissues, cartilage tissue. In this way, we can ensure that people who suffer from knee pain or joint pain at a level that cannot do their daily work at a young age and who cannot be treated with other treatment methods can continue their daily life by taking those tissues, reducing their pain and working. That is why we say that organ transplantation is significant as well as tissue transplantation, and we ask people to donate their tissues when they donate their organs.” 

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