Important Safety Information
Pre-existing conditions, including meniscal tears, joint instability, or malalignment should be assessed and treated prior to or concurrent with CARTICEL implantation. The occurrence of subsequent surgical procedures (SSPs), primarily arthroscopy, following CARTICEL implantation is common....View More Carticel (autologous cultured chondrocytes)

Important Safety Information Prescribing Information

CARTICEL Your Own Cells.

If your previous knee cartilage repair procedure failed to provide adequate pain relief, CARTICEL may be the solution. Results from a large, four-year study demonstrated that CARTICEL may reduce knee pain and improve daily and sports activities.

Kevin Harbison CARTICEL Patient

CARTICEL experiences

Is Carticel Right For You?

See how knee pain may be affecting your life and print questions about your knee cartilage injury to discuss with your surgeon.

Take The Assessment

Patients, speak to a Carticel Care® coordinator.

Tannia answers questions about reimbursement for treatment with CARTICEL and working with your insurance.

Indication

Carticel® (autologous cultured chondrocytes) is an autologous cellular product indicated for the repair of symptomatic cartilage defects of the femoral condyle (medial, lateral or trochlea), caused by acute or repetitive trauma, in patients who have had an inadequate response to a prior arthroscopic or other surgical repair procedure (e.g., debridement, microfracture, drilling/abrasion arthroplasty, or osteochondral allograft/autograft).

CARTICEL should only be used in conjunction with debridement, placement of a periosteal flap and rehabilitation. The independent contributions of the autologous cultured chondrocytes and other components of the therapy to outcome are unknown.

CARTICEL is not indicated for the treatment of cartilage damage associated with generalized osteoarthritis.

CARTICEL is not recommended for patients with total meniscectomy unless surgically reconstructed prior to or concurrent with CARTICEL implantation.

Important Safety Information

CARTICEL should not be used in patients with a known history of hypersensitivity to gentamicin, other aminoglycosides or materials of bovine origin.

It should not be used in patients who have previously had cancer in the bones, cartilage, fat or muscle of the treated limb.

Pre-existing conditions, including meniscal tears, joint instability, or malalignment should be assessed and treated prior to or concurrent with CARTICEL implantation.

CARTICEL is not routinely tested for transmissible infectious diseases and may transmit disease to the healthcare provider handling CARTICEL.

Use of CARTICEL in children, patients over age 65, or in joints other than the knee has not yet been assessed.

The occurrence of subsequent surgical procedures (SSPs), primarily arthroscopy, following CARTICEL implantation is common. In the Study of the Treatment of Articular Repair (STAR), forty-nine percent (49%) of patients underwent an SSP on the treated knee, irrespective of their relationship to CARTICEL, during the 4-year follow up. The most common serious adverse events (≥5% of patients), derived from STAR, include arthrofibrosis/joint adhesions, graft overgrowth, chondromalacia or chondrosis, cartilage injury, graft complication, meniscal lesion, graft delamination, and osteoarthritis.

For more information on CARTICEL, please see the Package Insert (PDF).

References

Data on file at Genzyme Corporation, Cambridge, MA.
Zaslav K, et al. A prospective study of autologous chondrocyte implantation in patients with failed prior treatment for articular cartilage defect of the knee: Results of the Study of the Treatment of Articular Repair (STAR) clinical trial. Am J Sports Med. 2009;37:42-55. doi:10.1177/0363546508322897.

Genzyme Biosurgery