The effects of indirect blunt trauma on adult canine articular cartilage.

Abstract

These animal experiments indicate that adult articular cartilage may show significant alterations in its histological, biochemical, and ultrastructural characteristics without disruption of the articular surface. This model of articular cartilage "contusion" may represent a corollary to the joint damage that is observed following direct blunt trauma transmitted across articular surfaces without radiographic evidence of fracture. The possibility that this form of injury may be the precursor of chondromalacic changes in patellar or femoral cartilage merits further study.