Osteochondral mosaicplasty for the treatment of focal chondral and osteochondral lesions of the knee and talus in the athlete. Rationale, indications, techniques, and results.

New techniques for articular cartilage transplantation have become available recently for traumatic chondral injuries. Applications to the athlete have generated considerable interest in the sports medicine community. The autogenous osteochondral grafting mosaicplasty has been used to treat these injuries in the athlete population for the past six years. The rationale, indications, operative technique, results, and limitations of mosaicplasty in the athlete are presented and discussed.