A new knee grown from ... your nose!

DAMAGED knees have been repaired with cartilage from a patient’s own nose for the first time – in a breakthrough procedure that could transform arthritis treatment.

Ten patients with severe knee injuries have undergone the pioneering therapy in Switzerland – with nine showing significant improvements in movement and quality of life.

Osteoarthritis affects an estimated nine million people in Britain. It occurs when cartilage in the knees or hip wears out, leaving bone rubbing on bone, which can be extremely painful. Because cartilage does not have its own blood supply, it cannot repair itself.

Surgeons can replace the joint with plastic or metal, but until now they have not been able to repair the cartilage itself.

The new procedure, developed by the University of Basel in Switzerland, uses a patient’s own cartilage from their nose to create a healthy graft used in the knee.

The eight men and two women, aged 19 to 52, had tiny samples of cartilage removed from their septum – the hard cartilage that separates the nostrils. These circular samples, measuring just a quarter of an inch in diameter, were then treated with a ‘growth factor’ that made the cartilage cells multiply.

A month later, enough healthy cartilage was available to form a rectangular patch big enough for a knee.

This new cartilage was then cut into shape and used to replace the damaged knee cartilage.

Two years later, nine of the ten patients had shown significant improvements. The tenth was excluded because he had suffered other sports injuries.

Crucially, the patients’ age did not affect the outcome – meaning it may be feasible among elderly patients with arthritis.

Doctors last night welcomed the research, published yesterday in the Lancet journal, as a huge step forward.

They stressed the procedure needs far more testing – but it could eventually become a vital osteoarthritis treatment.

Stephen Simpson, director of research at Arthritis Research UK said: ‘The study gives us hope of finding further treatment options for people with osteoarthritis.

‘Being able to regenerate cartilage and the cells around the joints would be less invasive than replacing the whole joint although more research is needed before this is routinely available for patients.’

‘Gives arthritis sufferers hope’