Intraosseous Treatment of Bone Marrow Lesions in the Knee: Surgical Technique

Intraosseous injections of bone marrow aspirate concentrate have shown promise in the treatment of bone marrow lesions (BMLs) in the knee. With the wide-awake limited anesthesia no tourniquet (WALANT) technique, intraosseous injections can be performed with the patient under local anesthesia in the procedure room or operating room setting. This article describes 2 techniques to access the BML of interest. The “decompression route” involves drilling through the nearest cortex, and the “biologic route” involves drilling through healthy bone to promote bleeding and the introduction of healthy biologic tissue to the BML.