New Synthetic Cartilage For Arthritis

(KUSA) Synthetic cartilage is a new option people with arthritis have to help remove pain and still have movement in their feet.

“I had severe arthritis in my big toe joint and I had surgery on that toe seven years ago,” says patient Cynthia Wax. She says after surgery she was still in constant pain.

A year ago, Wax met Dr. Robert Leeland. Instead of putting metal rods into her foot, she decided to give Cartiva a try. It is a new synthetic cartilage that is implanted into the big toe.

Dr. Leeland says a fusion procedure is more popular, but it limits movement to the toe, and this option acts as cartilage…allowing the toe to move with the rest of the foot.