Practical reading from Professor Paul Lee and the Lincolnshire Hip Clinic team — across hip replacement, Arthrosamid, ChondroFiller, PRP and the wider world of hip and groin pain.
ChondroFiller places an acellular collagen scaffold into focal cartilage defects; PRP is produced by centrifuging blood to concentrate growth factors. These operate via different mechanisms—one structural, one biological—suited to different presentations of hip damage.
Mosaicplasty transfers cartilage and bone to repair hip defects in one operation; defect size sharply determines outcome — lesions under 2cm² have a 12% hip replacement rate, versus 57% for larger defects.
ChondroFiller is a collagen scaffold injected to repair focal hip cartilage defects using the patient's own progenitor cells; effectiveness hinges on disease stage — 17 of 21 patients without osteoarthritis achieved good or excellent results, whilst those with advanced wear had poor outcomes.
Hip cartilage has no blood supply and cannot repair itself. ChondroFiller fills focal cartilage defects created by femoroacetabular impingement, self-polymerising within three to five minutes to form a collagen scaffold that enables the patient's own progenitor cells to regenerate tissue.
ChondroFiller is a collagen scaffold that recruits the body's own repair cells within focal hip cartilage defects; it succeeds in isolated lesions but fails in diffuse osteoarthritis.
MRI scans miss roughly six in ten hip cartilage lesions; arthroscopy assesses damage missed by imaging and delivers treatment within a single theatre session.
Two regenerative treatments for hip cartilage damage differ fundamentally: ChondroFiller™ scaffold recruits the body's own repair cells, producing consistent structural recovery (Harris Hip Score +33, MOCART scores 70–87); mesenchymal stem cell therapy generates 30–50% pain relief but without reliable cartilage repair on imaging.
Hip cartilage lacks blood supply and cannot repair itself. When focal defects develop, the NHS provides no commissioned pathway between conservative care and total replacement—a gap bridged privately by four techniques costing £3,000 to £28,000.
Liquid Cartilage™ hip injections cost £3,000–£9,800 and are available only privately; NHS commissioning awaits long-term randomised controlled trial data.
Lincolnshire Hip Clinic
Led by Professor Paul Lee
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