biomolecules Article Atelocollagen-Embedded Chondrocyte Precursors as a Treatment for Grade-4 Cartilage Defects of the Femoral Condyle: A Case Series with up to 9-Year Follow-Up Hwa-Chang Liu 1,2, Tzu-Shang Thomas Liu 3, Yen-Liang Liu 4, Jyh-Horng Wang 2, Chih-Hung Chang 5, Tiffany Ting-Fang Shih 6 and Feng-Huei Lin 7,* 1 Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Taiwan Adventist Hospital, Taipei 10556, Taiwan;
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[email protected] 3 Southern California Bone and Joint Clinic, Apple Valley, CA 92307, USA;
[email protected] 4 Master Program for Biomedical Engineering, China Medical University, Taichung 40402, Taiwan;
[email protected] 5 Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, New Taipei 22060, Taiwan;
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[email protected] Abstract: We demonstrated the safety and efficacy of autologous chondrocyte precursor (CP) cell ther- apy in repairing Grade 4 cartilage defects of medial femoral condyles. The autologous bone marrow Citation: Liu, H.-C.; Liu, T.-S.T.; Liu, mesenchymal stem cells of each participant were isolated, amplified, and then differentiated into CPs Y.-L.; Wang, J.-H.; Chang, C.-H.; Shih, in atelocollagen. Neotissues made of CPs were implanted into cartilage defects with an average cell T.T.-F.; Lin, F.-H. Atelocollagen- density of 4.9 ± 2.1 × 106 cells/cm2 through arthrotomy.