Eleven percent of all knee arthroscopies show cartilage defects that may be suitable for cartilage repair procedures. However, the natural history of these lesions and the number of patients that will benefit from a cartilage repair procedure are so far unknown.

Patients with focal cartilage lesions have major problems with pain and functional impairment. Their complaints are worse than those of patients with anterior cruciate ligament-deficient knees, and quality of life is affected to the same extent as in patients scheduled for knee replacement.

Patients with concomitant full-thickness cartilage lesions reported worse outcome in all of the KOOS subscales compared with patients without cartilage lesions 2 years after ACL reconstruction. Meniscal lesions and partial-thickness cartilage lesions did not impair patient-reported outcome 2 years after ACL reconstruction.