POA, a large regional orthopaedic specialty group, announced their first successful implant of MACI® (autologous cultured chondrocytes on a porcine collagen membrane) in the region. MACI is an FDA-approved product, in which a patient's own cartilage cells from the knee are regrown in a laboratory and implanted back into the patient's knee to repair the defect.

With the introduction of MACI, surgeons now have an FDA approved product in which the patient's own cells can be reproduced in a controlled lab environment, embedded on a special collagen membrane, and then implanted in the knee using a minimally invasive technique. "Joint preservation surgery has undergone its next evolution. With this new technology, we can use a patient's own cells to grow new cartilage to preserve their joint. The scaffold which delivers their cells allow for minimally invasive surgery and smaller incisions. We are working on an all-arthroscopic technique, as well. While this operation will not work for an arthritic knee, it has the promise of preserving a knee and potentially preventing future arthritis," says Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr. Jason Scopp.

About MACI

MACI® (autologous cultured chondrocytes on a porcine collagen membrane) is an autologous cellular scaffold product that is used in the repair of symptomatic single or multiple full-thickness cartilage defects of the knee, with or without bone involvement in adults. The MACI implant consists of autologous cultured chondrocytes seeded onto a resorbable type I/III collagen membrane. Autologous cultured chondrocytes are human-derived cells which are obtained from a patient's own cartilage for the manufacturing of MACI. The FDA approval of MACI was supported by the results of SUMMIT trial, a Phase 3 two-year trial.

About POA

Peninsula Orthopaedic Associates is a multi-specialty orthopaedic practice with offices in Berlin and Salisbury, Maryland and Millsboro and Seaford, Delaware. With over 50 years of providing comprehensive orthopaedic care, we provide expertise in foot and ankle, hand, hip and knee, shoulder and elbow, spine, sports medicine, joint replacement, joint preservation, orthopaedic trauma care, performance enhancement and rehabilitation, and biologic solutions, in order to offer an expansive continuum of care for our region.