[A experimental study on arthroscopic subchondral drilling for repair of osteochondral defect of temporomandibular joint (TMJ)].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the resurfacing ability of TMJ cartilage of rhesus monkeys with osteochondral defect.


METHODS
3-millimeter-diameter, 5-millimeter-depth, cylindrical full-thickness drilled osteochondral defect of articular cartilage on the functional slope of TMJ were made on 12 rhesus monkeys(24 joints) by arthroscope. Every 3 monkeys were sacrificed at 4, 8, 12 and 24 weeks postoperatively and the repaired tissue were studied by gross observation, histology and immunohistochemical staining (IHC).


RESULTS
The repaired tissues after subchondral drilling were dominated with fibrous tissues and IHC showed that Type II collagen stain was negative and Type I collagen stain was positive.


CONCLUSIONS
The osteochondral defect in TMJ can be repaired by arthroscopic subchondral drilling. The nature of repaired tissue is fibrous connective tissue, something different from normal cartilage. Subchondral drilling can be regarded as one of the treatments for articular cartilage defect.
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Second Medical University, Shanghai, 200011 China.
X D
XD
Wang
C
C
Yang
W L
WL
Qiu
X Y
XY
Cai
Q
Q
Hao