Oats procedure

I am a 38 yo male, with an extremely active lifestyle. I have been in Navy Special forces for 18 yrs, so my knees have taken lots of punishment. 2yrs ago i had ocd done on my knee along with some meniscal removed. I have a 1.5-2cm lesion defect on that knee. After non weight bearing for 6mnths, i re-habilitated back to normal, but no longer doing impact excercises. (no running just elliptical) 3months ago i played paintball and later that night experienced swelling and pain. After mri and xrays, surgeon wanted to do drilling again. I wanted to explore other procedures. He is suggesting OATS. Sorry for the long post, but my question is what is the success rate for this and are there any other options? In order to maintain my active lifestyle, i would be willing to do anything. I know i wont be able to run marathons again, but i do enjoy skydiving,scuba, and other related activities and plan to maintain this active lifestyle, but would rather do it without the pain.

Thank you for your help.

[sonu78]

Hi,
The OATS procedure, ( osteoarticular transfer system), is a surgical procedure used to treat focal cartilage defects. Mosaicplasty uses cartilage from undamaged areas of the joint, and moves this cartilage to a damaged area. This type of procedure is only useful for the treatment of focal cartilage damage.
if x-rays or arthroscopic examination show evidence of more widespread cartilage damage, the OATS procedure will not be performed.
Other option would be total knee replacement.

[lk930]

By the way, consulted with my dr today about this and they do now drill large cores (bone and cartilage from cadavers) to use as plugs.  somewhat different then just cartilage alone.

[lostandhopeles]

I had the oats done on friday last week. so far pain still high. the inability to use leg is worse than expected. I was told 6 weeks no weight on leg, that will be tough.my Dr sid not to use cadaver transfer. I am  45 year old male that is a bit out of shape. I am an active person  thou. fishing, yard work, just doing things for myself.The main reason for the oats was it will fix the problem if sugcessful.which is what the Dr expects no furthersurgerys needed If we went with a partial knee replacementthat is only a tempory fix until you are old enuff for a total knee replacement up to two times

[Mrowshan]

Guys,
I'm having the OATS next week,can u update me with results of the OATS on your knee ?
cheers

[EdB527]

Well i had an oats procedure done about a year ago. My question is to everyone who has been with their procedure a year or more, will i ever be able to feel comfortable running again? my situation is that it took almost 2 years so i hobbled around on one leg this entire time losing most of the muscle mass in my injured knee leg i slowly regaining the mass in my leg but it still feels foreign when trying to run on it. I want to know from the active OATS procedure recipients if they feel the same way or did it just take time to get back to normal. I need hope this is really starting to bother me making me think i should have just sucked up the pain atleast i was able to run normally, for sure i would pay for it the next day but now i cant even do that.

Thanks for the advise in advance

[pastores7]

I'm 33 yr. old male have had surgeries on my knee since i was 12 to help with my wearing down of my left knee cartilage due to heavy sports and activities. just had a cage put on my lower spine.thought that might also help with some of my leg pain.so last doc. visit i complained of my knee getting more and more painful and harder to walk snd go up my stairs so the doc sent me for another MRI and came back i have a 1.5 inch circle and about 1.3 inch  deep part that is bad and doc set up surgery for june 30th and plans on doing the oats procedure & have to get donor bone and cartilage.wanting to know about what to expect.I 'm a very active person with 4 kids even with back surgery 7 months ago i'm back in swing other than the knee thing and worried about being able to stay off my leg.I can't stand for people to do things for me sick or not.

thanks for any insight anyone can give

[2012rj]

I had OATS procedure 2 years ago and was only 17! It took me 5 years of constant nagging for the doctor to even take any notice of me, telling me I was doing too much sport! Finally he referred me to a knee and ankle specialist who tried other operations first and said because of my age it will heal itself! It didn't work so they finally did the OATs procedure! I did everything they said like no weight bearing for 6 weeks then gradually put more weight on it! They also said I would have physiotherapy after but then said I was fine! As I said its been 2 years and I haven't been right since ! I'm still in constant pain and my ankle rolls inwards a lot and my knee where they grafed the cartlidge from locks ! Sorry about how long it is but I want to know is this normal?

[sam3727]

I am scheduled for my oats surgery on Wednesday.  I have been doing a lot of research.  I have had many ankle sprains since I was a kids.  Besides just the oats procedure I also have to have the ligaments replaced (cause my ankle was very unstable and rolled easily) and also had to have my heel shifted (think its called a calcaneal osteomy) which will be done because I have high arches and my heel is turned in a little bit.  I was told this is why I rolled and twisted my ankle to much. 2012rj this may be why you are still having problems.  They corrected the damage but not what was originally causing it.  You may need to have your ligaments tightened or your heel shifted(this is seen with high arches or flat fee) Hope this helps.