Lab-grown cartilage transplant surgery

Apparently, this kind of thing only happens out in Carmel-by-the-Sea... Dr. Smith takes a piece of healthy cartilage, grows a new batch in a lab over about a month, and then grafts it back onto the damaged spot. The surgery takes roughly an hour and a half, and you’re looking at a two-month recovery period.
Has anyone here actually gone through this? Does Blue Cross cover the costs, or am I footing the whole bill? And how long is the waiting list for the procedure?

Yeah, I’m right there with you. I've been dealing with some pretty serious cartilage issues in both my knees lately.
😢

Amanda Hall71 said:Apparently, this kind of procedure is only done in Carmel-by-the-Sea... by Dr. Smith. They take a small piece of healthy cartilage, grow a new section in a lab over about a month, and then transplant it back into the damaged area. The surgery itself takes roughly an hour and a half, with a recovery period of about two months..
I was wondering if anyone here has actually gone through this? Does Medicare cover the costs, or is it out of pocket? And how long is the typical waitlist for the surgery?

I’ve honestly never heard of anything like that being available here in the States—if it does exist, I highly doubt Medicare would pick up the tab because it sounds incredibly expensive😢

Maybe check in with General Mills; I think I heard they handled something like that once. Smith probably won't cover the operation, no doubt about it.

I went to see Dr. Miller two days ago for a checkup, bringing along a whole list of questions about my knee 🤣
Basically, he told me that growing artificial cartilage isn't being done here in our great country anymore. He actually performed the procedure seven or eight times back when he was practicing in Carmel-by-the-Sea, but apparently, Medicare decided it was just too expensive, so the project unfortunately fizzled out. Even globally, these kinds of transplants are still largely considered experimental. That said, you can get it done abroad 😁 for around $6,000 to $7,000 if the standard techniques don't work out 🙂
From what I’ve managed to dig up, this specific technique has shown the most promise so far. However, since they only started using it around the turn of the millennium, we still need plenty of time and more research before it becomes a standard practice.

I wouldn't suggest looking for medical advice online, but if anyone is truly interested in diving deep, you can find quite a few professional papers and studies on the MACI method if you use the right search terms 😉