A technique for knee replacement surgery that allow for the removal of an oval oblong-shaped allograft bone and cartilage plug from a donor distal femur. The technique uses instruments including (i) sizing guides to match the recipient's femoral size and curvature to that of a donor femur (the sizing guides also acting as a wide pin placement template for the donor distal femur); (ii) osteotomes that cut the curved and straight portions of the implant shape (these may be disposable or reusable); and (iii) templates that fit over the guide pins and have openings to allow the osteotomes to cut the donor femur plug to the correct size, shape and depth. The instruments allow for a non-circular shape to be extracted from a donor femur for use in a bone-saving osteoarthritis distal femur resurfacing procedure.

A shaped cartilage matrix isolated from a human or animal where the cartilage has been crafted to facilitate disinfection, cleaning, devitalization, recellularization, and/or integration after implantation. Also, a process for repairing a cartilage defect with the cartilage matrix. The matrix is in the form of an osteochondral plug including a cartilage cap ad subchondral bone, wherein one or more gaps, slats, bores, or channels extend through the tidemark at the interface between the cartilage cap and the subchondral bone.

A technique for knee replacement surgery that allow for the removal of an oval oblong-shaped allograft bone and cartilage plug from a donor distal femur. The technique uses instruments including (i) sizing guides to match the recipient's femoral size and curvature to that of a donor femur (the sizing guides also acting as a wide pin placement template for the donor distal femur); (ii) osteotomes that cut the curved and straight portions of the implant shape (these may be disposable or reusable); and (iii) templates that fit over the guide pins and have openings to allow the osteotomes to cut the donor femur plug to the correct size, shape and depth. The instruments allow for a non-circular shape to be extracted from a donor femur for use in a bone-saving osteoarthritis distal femur resurfacing procedure.

Methods and compositions for the biological repair of cartilage using a hybrid construct combining both an inert structure and living core are described. The inert structure is intended to act not only as a delivery system to feed and grow a living core component, but also as an inducer of cell differentiation. The inert structure comprises concentric internal and external and inflatable/expandable balloon-like bio-polymers. The living core comprises the cell-matrix construct comprised of HDFs, for example, seeded in a scaffold. The method comprises surgically removing a damaged cartilage from a patient and inserting the hybrid construct into the cavity generated after the foregoing surgical intervention. The balloons of the inert structure are successively inflated within the target area, such as a joint, for example. Also disclosed herein are methods for growing and differentiating human fibroblasts into chondrocyte-like cells via mechanical strain.

A technique for knee replacement surgery that allow for the removal of an oval oblong-shaped allograft bone and cartilage plug from a donor distal femur. The technique uses instruments including (i) sizing guides to match the recipient's femoral size and curvature to that of a donor femur (the sizing guides also acting as a wide pin placement template for the donor distal femur); (ii) osteotomes that cut the curved and straight portions of the implant shape (these may be disposable or reusable); and (iii) templates that fit over the guide pins and have openings to allow the osteotomes to cut the donor femur plug to the correct size, shape and depth. The instruments allow for a non-circular shape to be extracted from a donor femur for use in a bone-saving osteoarthritis distal femur resurfacing procedure.

Osteochondral graft composition that include a cartilage component and a bone component, and which include one or more perforations in the bone component and/or the cartilage component, are provided. Methods of manufacturing and using such osteochondral graft compositions are also provided.

Disclosed herein is a modified tissue graft (120, 200, 300, 500, 630) with improved properties for tissue integration and regeneration. The tissue graft (120, 200, 300, 500, 630) has biological properties that are enhanced by removing lipids (615) and other contaminants (e.g., blood components, micro-organisms) using enzymes, enzyme aggregates, or immobilized enzymes. This application describes the process (10) for removing bio-contaminants while maintaining optimal biological properties.

A patient-specific tissue graft and a method of forming the graft is disclosed. A 3D image of a patient's targeted implant site and surrounding anatomy is obtained to note the boundary of the implant site. A 3D model of the graft is formed by utilizing the boundary of the implant site, a surface curvature, extrapolated from the patient's target implant site surrounding anatomy, and a depth, defined by a plane parallel to a plane normal to a point of curvature at the surface. Donor tissue is chosen that has a location with a close approximation to the 3D model of the graft. The donor tissue is visualized to determine a cutting path to shape or modify the architecture of the tissue. A cutting path is determined with imaging technology and computational methods. The graft is cut out of the donor tissue utilizing a fluid cutting process.

Methods and compositions for the biological repair of cartilage using a hybrid construct combining both an inert structure and living core are described. The inert structure is intended to act not only as a delivery system to feed and grow a living core component, but also as an inducer of cell differentiation. The inert structure comprises concentric internal and external and inflatable/expandable balloon-like bio-polymers. The living core comprises the cell-matrix construct comprised of HDFs, for example, seeded in a scaffold. The method comprises surgically removing a damaged cartilage from a patient and inserting the hybrid construct into the cavity generated after the foregoing surgical intervention. The balloons of the inert structure are successively inflated within the target area, such as a joint, for example. Also disclosed herein are methods for growing and differentiating human fibroblasts into chondrocyte-like cells via mechanical strain.

Methods and compositions for the biological repair of cartilage using a hybrid construct combining both an inert structure and living core are described. The inert structure is intended to act not only as a delivery system to feed and grow a living core component, but also as an inducer of cell differentiation. The inert structure comprises concentric internal and external and inflatable/expandable balloon-like bio-polymers. The living core comprises the cell-matrix construct comprised of HDFs, for example, seeded in a scaffold. The method comprises surgically removing a damaged cartilage from a patient and inserting the hybrid construct into the cavity generated after the foregoing surgical intervention. The balloons of the inert structure are successively inflated within the target area, such as a joint, for example. Also disclosed herein are methods for growing and differentiating human fibroblasts into chondrocyte-like cells via mechanical strain.