Cartilage taken from the human knee during arthroscopic procedure ANNE WESTON/FRANCIS CRICK INSTITUTE/SCIENCEPHOTO LIBRARY
The treatment of cartilage damage in the knees and other joints could be improved by a new hydrogel. Keyhole surgery is possible due to the unique characteristics of the gel which acts as a scaffold for growth of cartilage cells.
Qiuning Lin, a professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China, said that human trials will soon begin.
Lin and her coworkers discovered that the gel doesn't set unless it is exposed to UV light for approximately 10 minutes.
