Proposed ASTM Standard Will Help Repair Knee Cartilage

A proposed ASTM International standard aims to make it easier to use tissue engineered medical products to repair cartilage. The proposed standard (WK55272 Test Method for Tissue Engineering Medical Products – Preclinical Assessment of Engineered Cartilage Tissue Growth Using an MRI) could help with efforts to use regenerative medicine for damaged knee cartilage. The standard is being developed by ASTM Committee F04 on Medical and Surgical Materials and Devices.
 
ASTM member Mrignayani Kotecha, of the University of Illinois, says “The new standard could help characterize and assess regenerative therapies that use biomaterial to repair knee joints. This preclinical evaluation will provide a reference point and guide for clinical evaluation of cartilage regenerative therapies by MRI.”
 
Companies that develop regenerative medicine therapies for cartilage damage could find the standard useful.