01
PRESERVE
Control load and inflammation
Rehabilitation, activity planning, orthobiologics and correction of modifiable mechanics.
Professor Lee’s cartilage repair and regeneration hub
Cartilage is only millimetres thick.Its loss can rearrange a life.
Getting down on the floor, climbing stairs, walking far enough or returning to sport: cartilage matters because movement matters. Professor Paul Lee’s repertoire spans established cartilage surgery and his one-stage NANO ACi technique, with replacement held for the joint that genuinely needs it.
ACI / MACIOsteochondral graftsNANO ACiMytocel MSKChondroFiller
Clinical plate 01 · Cartilage surface and joint load
Cartilage damage changes how a joint surface carries load
Articular cartilage creates a smooth, low-friction surface and spreads load into the bone beneath it. Damage can appear as softening, roughening, thinning, local injury or more established osteoarthritic wear.
Mechanical question
Map the pattern of cartilage loss while assessing alignment, stability, meniscus and subchondral load.
Regenerative opportunity
Create and retain a cartilage-specific repair environment at the clinically defined joint surface.
01Define the tissue before the technique
Why cartilage is difficult to heal
A smooth, load-bearing surface with almost no blood supply
Articular cartilage lets a joint move with very low friction while spreading load across the bone beneath it. It contains few cells and no direct blood vessels, so a meaningful defect has little capacity to heal like skin or muscle.
That does not make every defect the same. A contained pothole in otherwise healthy cartilage may suit a focal repair. Diffuse wear affects the whole joint environment. Alignment, ligament stability, meniscus, bone and inflammation decide whether any cartilage procedure has a fair chance of working.
Explore each route separately
A hub—not a bundle of interchangeable products
Each page explains what the treatment is, which biological or structural job it performs, how Professor Lee uses it and where its evidence begins and ends.
PROFESSOR LEE TECHNIQUE
NANO ACi
A one-stage, needle-delivered cartilage technique that combines autologous cartilage micrografts as the seed, ChondroFiller collagen as the soil and ArthroZheal PRF as the signal.
Read the full explanation
CELLULAR PREPARATION
Mytocel MSK
Point-of-care Autologous Micrografting Technology introduced in the UK by Professor Lee; used independently and as the cellular seed within NANO ACi.
Read the full explanation
COLLAGEN SCAFFOLD
ChondroFiller
A cell-free Type I collagen hydrogel used as an ultrasound-guided injection or placed surgically within a cartilage-repair pathway.
Read the full explanation
ESTABLISHED CARTILAGE SURGERY
ACI, MACI, grafting and reconstruction
Professor Lee’s repertoire includes staged cell implantation, osteochondral grafts, scaffold techniques and procedures that correct the mechanics around the defect.
Read the full explanation
The cartilage treatment ladder
Match the intervention to the joint—not the other way around
Professor Lee’s PRRR framework keeps replacement in the repertoire while widening the decisions that come before it.
02
REPAIR
Restore a defined defect
Microfracture in selected cases, ACI / MACI, osteochondral grafting, scaffold procedures and structural correction.
03
REGENERATE
Create the conditions to rebuild
NANO ACi combines Seed · Soil · Signal in one image-guided session.
04
REPLACE
Use the reliable end-stage solution
Partial or total joint replacement when the native surface can no longer be meaningfully preserved.
NANO ACi in one view
Seed, Soil and Signal are supporting roles. The technique is the star.
SEED
Mytocel MSK
The patient’s auricular cartilage is mechanically prepared into autologous micrografts.
SOIL
ChondroFiller
A collagen hydrogel provides the three-dimensional environment at the cartilage target.
SIGNAL
ArthroZheal
Platelet-rich fibrin prepared from the patient’s own blood supplies the physiological medium and signal.
Professor Lee’s NANO ACi technique defines the patient, target, preparation, sequence and precise one-stage delivery that turn those components into a coherent procedure.
See the complete NANO ACi techniqueEvidence boundary
Use evidence that matches the treatment actually offered
ACI, MACI, osteochondral grafts, ChondroFiller, Mytocel AMT and platelet-rich fibrin have different evidence bases, indications and procedures. NANO ACi is a newer combined protocol and is being followed prospectively through Professor Lee’s NANO ACi 100 outcomes programme. No component’s evidence is used as a substitute for the complete technique’s own results.
FAQ
Questions about cartilage repair and regeneration
The useful question is not which option sounds newest; it is which one matches the pattern and mechanics of this joint.
Repair fills, stabilises or restores a defined defect. Regeneration aims to create a biological environment in which tissue can rebuild. In practice, a good cartilage plan may combine repair, regeneration and correction of the mechanics that caused the damage.
No. Mytocel MSK prepares the patient’s auricular cartilage into autologous micrografts. NANO ACi is Professor Lee’s complete technique, adding ChondroFiller as the soil, ArthroZheal as the signal, target planning and precise delivery.
Cartilage damage can affect the knee, hip, ankle, shoulder and elbow. The available technique and evidence depend on the joint, size and pattern of damage, stability, alignment and surrounding tissue.
It may postpone or avoid replacement in a suitable joint, but that cannot be promised. If cartilage loss is advanced and the joint can no longer be meaningfully preserved, replacement may be the most reliable treatment.
Can the native joint surface still be preserved?
See the whole cartilage repertoire before choosing a procedure
ACI / MACIgraftingNANO ACiChondroFillerreplacement when necessary
Professor Lee assesses the defect, surrounding cartilage, bone, meniscus, alignment and stability before deciding whether to preserve, repair, regenerate or replace.