Which factors influence patient satisfaction after cartilage repair?

Standardized scores, such as the knee injury osteoarthritis outcome score (KOOS) represent a relevant instrument in scientific and clinical applications. In this context the absolute values show a higher correlation with patient satisfaction than those gained from individual patients. The subscore quality of life shows the strongest correlation with the satisfaction of patients who underwent a cartilage regenerative treatment. Furthermore, the subscores pain and sport represent the patient satisfaction better than the subscores symptoms and activities of daily living. The early postoperative satisfaction has only a limited influence on the later satisfaction with the surgical outcome, which is of high clinical relevance in the identification of possible treatment failure. It is remarkable that the revision only shows a low correlation with the satisfaction. Preoperative factors seem to have no influence on the postoperative result, as measured by the patient satisfaction.