This systematic analysis shows that microfracture provides effective short-term functional improvement of knee function but insufficient data are available on its long-term results. Shortcomings of the technique include limited hyaline repair tissue, variable repair cartilage volume, and possible functional deterioration. The quality of the currently available data on micro-fracture is still limited by the variability of results and study designs. Further well-designed studies are needed to determine the long-term efficacy of microfracture and to define its specific clinical indications compared to other cartilage repair techniques.

Elevated deep UTE-T2* values of medial knee cartilage 2 years after ACLR correlate with 2 clinical markers of increased risk of medial knee OA. These results support the clinical utility of MRI UTE-T2* for early diagnosis of subsurface cartilage abnormalities. Longitudinal follow-up of larger cohorts is needed to determine the predictive and staging potential of UTE-T2* for posttraumatic OA.

Rupture of the insertion of the pectoralis major muscle to the proximal humerus is becoming a common injury. Repair of these ruptures increases patient satisfaction, strength, and cosmesis, and shortens return to competitive sports. Several repair techniques have been described, but recently many surgeons are using suture anchors. The traditional repair technique uses transosseous sutures, but no study has biomechanically compared the strength of these two repair techniques in human cadavers. Twelve freshfrozen human shoulder specimens were dissected. The pectoralis major tendon insertion was cut from the bone and repaired using one of the two repair techniques: specimens were randomly assigned to transosseous trough with suture tied over bone versus four suture anchors. The fixation constructs were pulled to failure at 4 mm/s on a materials testing system. The mean ultimate failure load of the transosseous repairs was 611 N and the mean ultimate failure load of the suture anchor repair was 620 N. The mean stiffness of the transosseous repair was 32 and 28 N/mm for the suture anchor group. We found no statistically significant difference between these two repair techniques. ß

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