Back in the Game
The procedure
In the first stage of the procedure,
Fadale removed some of Paradise's healthy cartilage cells and sent them to
Genzyme Tissue Repair in Cambridge, MA, which cultured the few cells into
millions through a technique called CarticelR. After several months, the
new cells were frozen and shipped back to Fadale, who injected them into
the affected area of her knee. A small piece of bone tissue was then sewn
over the cells, which continue to grow.
Because the procedure uses the patient's own cartilage, the possibility
of the body rejecting the tissue is virtually non-existent. Since 1995,
more than 3,000 patients have undergone the procedure, which costs on
average $26,000, about the same as a knee replacement. An initial
long-term study conducted by Genzyme shows significant improvement in 85
percent of patients over a three-year period.
Results 
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