Current surgical options and innovation for repairing articular cartilage defects in the femoral head

Total hip arthroplasty is a common surgical technique, yet it has severe complications, such as loosening and repeated revision. Thus, hip-preserving surgical options should be considered first to treat cartilage defects in the femoral head, especially for younger patients. Current surgical options for chondral repair of the femoral head include microfracture, trapdoor procedure, transplantation of osteochondral allografts and autografts, and autologous chondrocyte implantation. Each of these techniques has unique advantages and limitations; however, none of them have been consented as the best practice for cartilage defects. In this review article, we also introduced a novel technique for repairing osteochondral defects of the femoral head using autologous costal cartilage grafts that may have good translational potential for cost-effective and safe applications.