A new procedure that replaces areas of damaged knee cartilage with healthy tissue has led to a 50 per cent rise in patients returning to play sport, according to a new study.

The osteoarticular cartilage transplantation (OATS) procedure, involves a plug of healthy cartilage tissue being taken from one part of a patient's knee and transferred to the damaged part of the knee

Researchers at New York's Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) studied 96 patients with knee cartilage problems and found that over 90 per cent of patients, who underwent the OATS cartilage transplant procedure were able to return to playing sport.

This compared to just 40 per cent who received standard care for cartilage damage.

Half of the patients underwent OATS while the other half underwent normal care, before being assessed at one, two, three and five years.

The researchers pointed out that Studies have shown that there is only about a 40 per cent return to sport after the normal microfracture procedure used for knee cartilage problems, while over 90 per cent of patients returned to sport with the OATS procedure.

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

A spokesperson for Arthritis Ireland said: "Surgical procedures in this area are constantly improving and this study suggests that this latest innovation is having a significant positive impact on patient outcomes.

"Although a decision to undergo a procedure of this nature should never be taken lightly, the results for these surgeries are generally very positive and can dramatically improve the patient's quality of life.”