Evidence / Sources / E23
Janacova V et al. Texture Analysis of Cartilage Repair Tissue Maturation. Cartilage 2026
Evidence strength 3 of 5
Prospective imaging subcohort · n = 37 · 24 mo follow-upMACI ITSELFFull text →What it can tell you
That repair tissue is still measurably changing on quantitative MRI texture analysis between 3 and 24 months — the graft is not finished when the protocols end.
What it cannot
What that maturation means clinically, or what loading does to it. An imaging subcohort of 37 shows change is happening; it cannot prescribe anything.
Everything on this site that leans on E23 — 10 claims
Stage III · Loading“The graft is entering its soft maturation window — repair tissue is still measurably changing on imaging at 24 months, and this is the period where progressive compression is thoug…”Stage IV · Strength“The graft is remodeling, not finished — repair-tissue texture is still measurably changing between 3 and 24 months on imaging. Progressive load in this window is the stimulus the t…”Stage VI · Long horizon“Neither the tissue nor the risk is finished at year one: repair-tissue texture is still measurably changing at 24 months, and mean time to graft failure is around 22 months. The kn…”Program · Stage VI (patellofemoral)“Keep the impact you earned — The mechanobiology is animal evidence; it explains the habit, it does not prescribe a dose.”Program · Stage VI (tibiofemoral)“Keep the impact you earned — The mechanobiology is animal evidence; it explains the habit, it does not prescribe a dose.”Program · Stage VI (tibiofemoral)“Year two, on purpose — Knowing late change is possible is a reason to be seen when the knee changes, not a reason to expect it.”Exercise Library · Holding impact capacity“Articular cartilage atrophied under disuse and recovered with mechanical reloading in animal and in-vitro models, and repair tissue after cartilage procedures was still maturing me…”Exercise Library · Second-year vigilance“Across a large systematic review of implantation failures the mean time to graft failure was around twenty-two months, repair tissue was still maturing measurably on imaging at twe…”Why this · Why this is the point most people stop, and the evidence says not to“Failure in this operation is not usually an early event — the mean time to graft failure across a large pooled series was around twenty-two months, and repair tissue was still meas…”Why this · Why year two is the one to watch“The mean time to graft failure across a large pooled series was around twenty-two months, repair tissue was still measurably changing on imaging at twenty-four, and the randomized …”
Read it like a sceptic
Texture analysis is a research instrument, not a clinical standard; MACT and microfracture patients are pooled in the imaging set.
Population
MACT vs microfracture
Selection policy
Sources enter the registry through docs/research — the evidence table records design, population, and size for every entry, and pages cannot cite anything outside it.