Early Osteoarthritis - State-of-the-Art Approaches to Diagnosis, Treatment and Controversies

Early osteoarthritis is novel topic for orthopedic surgeons and its process begins immediately after joint injury. The mechanical restoration of the joint surface or ligamentous stability is not sufficient to restore the homeostatic environment in the joint, and this leads to osteoarthritis, despite mechanical stability and alignment. This book sheds light on the various mechanisms and systems involved in the gradual decline of the injured joint toward manifest osteoarthritis.Published in collaboration with ISAKOS, this volume appeals to all stakeholders in surgical orthopaedics and sports medicine.


Christian Lattermann has recently been appointed to the Brigham and Women's Hospital at Harvard Medical School as Chief of Sports Medicine and Director of the Cartilage Repair Center. Until 2018 he was Professor and Vice Chair for Orthopaedic Surgery and Research at the University of Kentucky (UK), where he is the founder and Director of the Center for Cartilage Repair and Restoration. He is an expert in cartilage repair, outcomes research and clinical trials.Henning Madry is a clinician-scientist, a tenured Professor and Chair of Orthopedic Research and Director of the Center of Experimental Orthopedics at Saarland University in Germany. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Experimental Orthopaedics, the basic science journal of the European Society for Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy (ESSKA). As a clinically active orthopedic surgeon, he has special expertise in regenerative treatments for cartilage defects and osteoarthritis. His research translates novel molecular, cell biology and tissue engineering approaches into clinical applications in orthopedic surgery with a focus on translational aspects of osteochondral regeneration.
Norimasa Nakamura is Professor at the Institute for Medical Science in Sports at Osaka Health Science University and the Global Center for Medical Engineering and Informatics at Osaka University. He is an orthopedic surgeon at the Osaka University Hospital, specializing in arthroscopic surgery and sports medicine. His current main interest is the development of three-dimensional tissue engineered constructs derived from various stem cells in joint tissue repair and regeneration. Norimasa Nakamura has been involved in the ICRS (serving as the President from 2015 to 2016) and ISAKOS (member of the board of directors from 2009 to 2013, the Chair of the scientific committee from 2013 to 2015, the Chair of the publication committee since 2019).
Elizaveta Kon is an Associated Professor at Humanitas University, Milan, an orthopedic surgeon at the Center of Functional and Biological Reconstruction of the knee, Humanitas Research Hospital, Milan, and 2nd Vice President of the International Cartilage Regeneration & Joint Preservation Society (ICRS).
Until 2017 she was Director of the Nano-Biotecnology Laboratory and an orthopedic surgeon at Rizzoli Orthopedic Institute, and Assistant Professor at University of Bologna. She has coordinated numerous research projects and clinical trials regarding biotechnology applications in orthopedics in the framework of Italian and European research.