Donor-site morbidity after osteochondral autograft transfer procedures

We report on 2 patients who had donor-site morbidity after an autogenous osteochondral grafting was performed. Both patients had fibrocartilage hypertrophy at the donor sites that contributed to knee pain and occasional locking; the second patient also had a lack of fibrocartilaginous regrowth with symptomatic residual osteocartilaginous defects. Additional arthroscopic surgery was required in both cases to trim the fibrocartilage. In addition, for the second case, a fresh osteoarticular allograft was used to transfer osteocartilaginous plugs back into the original knee donor sites due to continued knee pain. When performing an osteochondral autograft transfer, the benefits provided at the recipient site must be weighed against the possible donor-site morbidity that may result.