Abstract
A histological investigation of the patella cartilage degeneration between chondro-malacia patellae and osteoarthritis was performed in twenty-five knees of twenty-two young patients who were classified into unstable patella, and in twenty-two knees of twenty-one patients who had total knee arthroplasty. Histology indicated that the degenerative cartilage in chondromalacia patellae could heal either by extrinsic or intrinsic repair (fibrous metaplasia of chondrocytes), and that the degenerative cartilage in osteoarthritis could not heal, and would progress to terminal eburnation.
