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Background: Patient expectations are an issue which is attracting increased interest in outcome research for knee surgery procedures. So far, research into patient expectations has mainly focused on the procedure and postoperative functional improvements. The purpose of this study was to identify patient expectations in the perioperative setting., Material and Methods: This was a single-center prospective study. A 17-item questionnaire (ordinal answer scale) about patients' perioperative expectations was developed and completed by patients undergoing elective joint-preserving knee surgery. The study covered a period of 3 months and included all patients consecutively undergoing knee surgery. Subgroup analysis was performed for gender, age and type of insurance., Results: 111 consecutive patients completed the questionnaire on admission. Significant preferences for one answer option were found for 13 out of 17 items. Patients considered it "unimportant" whether or not the physician wore a white coat during the consultation and "very important" that the first medical consultation after the patient was discharged from hospital was with the surgeon who had performed their operation. A concise explanation of the surgical procedure using images, talking to the surgeon the day before surgery and immediately after surgery, having their wound personally inspected by the surgeon, and, finally, the availability of the surgeon by phone were regarded as "important". There were no differences in patient responses between the different subgroups., Conclusion: Patients expect a high personal commitment and availability of the surgeon during the entire perioperative setting, starting from the first consultation and continuing during follow-up examinations., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)

Autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) is an established two-step procedure for the treatment of full-thickness cartilage defects of the knee. Cartilage harvest from the affected knee joint represents the first step of this procedure and is essential for further in vitro expansion of autologous chondrocytes. Nevertheless, the cartilage biopsy process itself is underrepresented in the scientific literature and currently there is only a limited amount of data available addressing this process. Biopsy location as well as the technique itself and instruments used for cartilage collection are not well defined and only little standardisation can be found. The article describes the relevant aspects of the biopsy in the context of ACI with regard to the literature available. Follow-up studies to better define and standardise the cartilage biopsy process are thus required., (Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)

Aim: Since its introduction in 1994, autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) has become an established surgical treatment for symptomatic isolated cartilage defects of the knee. Success rates vary between 80 and 95% and the clinical outcome seems to depend on various individual factors. The aim of the present review article is to summarise factors that affect clinical outcome following ACI for treatment of symptomatic cartilage defects of the knee based upon the scientific literature available on this topic., Methods: The present publication represents a non-systematic review including publications which were considered relevant describing factors that influence clinical outcome following ACI for treatment of symptomatic full thickness cartilage defects of the knee. In order to identify relevant literature concerning complications following cartilage repair, medical databases including "medline", "ovid" and "web of science" were searched for the terms "autologous chondrocyte implantation", "autologous chondrocyte transplantation", "prognostic factor", "clinical outcome", "cartilage repair", "cartilage defect" and "cartilage regeneration". The literature search was performed in April 2010., Results: Factors that influence clinical outcome following ACI for treatment of cartilage defects of the knee include patient-specific parameters on the one hand, such as body mass index, nicotine abusus, patients age, prior surgical treatment, duration of symptoms and more, and defect characteristics such as containment, defect location, defect size, number of defects treated, on the other hand. Furthermore, surgical technique, cell quality and rehabilitation seem to significantly influence the clinical outcome following autologous chondrocyte implantation. Among all factors identified as relevant for clinical outcome, some of these parameters are fixed and cannot be changed by either the surgeon nor the patient, while others can be influenced and even changed during the treatment and rehabilitation of a patient who underwent ACI., Conclusion: Knowledge of all relevant parameters that influence clinical outcome following ACI is essential in order to achieve an optimal clinical outcome in patients with cartilage defects of the knee. This paper presents a review of the scientific literature available which focuses on the questions as to what parameters influence the outcome of a patient following ACI for treatment of cartilage defects of the knee. No isolated factors could be identified that influence the outcome following ACI alone, but it seems that clinical outcome is influenced by many different parameters. These parameters should be considered carefully, at the time of decision about what kind of treatment is applied. Furthermore, the patient should be informed especially about those parameters which can be influenced by him-/herself in order to create good prerequisites for the surgical treatment., (© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)