What is chondral loss in the shoulder?
What is it? Osteochondral lesion or osteochondral defect (OCD) is an injury of the cartilage surface of the glenoid and/or humeral head. The cartilage, which is usually normally very thick, is damaged in a discrete area.
What is chondral loss?
A chondral defect refers to a focal area of damage to the articular cartilage (the cartilage that lines the end of the bones).
What causes chondral loss?
Cartilage loss caused by a direct injury can result from blunt trauma to the joint. This can be from a severe car accident or even a very bad fall where the joint makes direct impact with the ground. If you’re an athlete, sporting injuries are also a cause of cartilage loss.
What causes cartilage loss in shoulder?
Osteoarthritis is the most common cause of cartilage damage in the shoulder, becoming more prevalent with age and with repetitive use of the joint. Arthritis is also more likely to occur if you’ve had a previous shoulder injury.
What happens when you lose cartilage in your shoulder?
As the cartilage disappears, the joint becomes stiff, reducing range of motion, and limiting activity, often causing interference with even the most common tasks of everyday life, such as dressing, reaching for objects, and even personal hygiene.
What is full thickness chondral loss?
Injury or Condition Cartilage cracking, fragmentation and erosion over time has resulted in full-thickness loss of your weight-bearing (articular) cartilage, often altering the alignment of your lower extremity towards bowing (bow-legged). This condition is osteoarthritic in nature.
Is chondral loss arthritis?
The patient’s condition may, in fact, result from a series of minor injuries that have occurred over time. Articular cartilage also wears down as a person ages. Chondral damage is graded from mild to severe, and all grades can have characteristics of osteoarthritis.
Does shoulder cartilage grow back?
“Cartilage has practically zero regenerative potential in adulthood, so once it’s injured or gone, what we can do for patients has been very limited,” said assistant professor of surgery Charles K.F. Chan, PhD. “It’s extremely gratifying to find a way to help the body regrow this important tissue.”
Does cartilage damage show on MRI?
MRI scanning is very good at showing soft tissues, but is poorer at showing bone. It is commonly used to diagnose meniscal injuries, ligament injuries, articular cartilage damage, bone tumours, soft tissue tumours and can also show up other intra-articular abnormalities.