ChondroFiller® Injection · Self-Assessment
Five questions, around three minutes. Identify whether a Prevention, Regeneration, Combination, or Support ChondroFiller® injection pathway is the right fit for your joint, before booking a consultation with Prof Paul Lee.
Around three minutes. Each question maps to one of the four pathways based on goals, joint history, and treatment timing.
ChondroFiller® injection is used in knees, hips, ankles, shoulders, and smaller joints. The questionnaire works whichever joint you are asking about.
The result is a starting point for a consultation with Prof Lee, not a clinical recommendation. Imaging and examination shape the final injection plan.
Could a collagen regeneration pathway help your joint?
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Question 1 of 5
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Every patient reaches a ChondroFiller® injection from a different starting point. Your answers route you to one of four pathways. Here is what each one means in practice and what the consultation will focus on.
You are acting early, before significant cartilage damage progresses. A ChondroFiller® injection now adds structural support to the joint surface and provides a scaffold your own cells can populate, while the symptom picture is still mild.
You have an identifiable cartilage defect and want to address it directly. The ChondroFiller® injection delivers an acellular collagen scaffold into the defect, where your own cells migrate in and build hyaline-like cartilage over time.
Your joint may benefit from more than one ChondroFiller® injection: bilateral knees, multiple sites within the same joint, or a staged plan across visits. The consultation maps the sequence so injections build on each other.
Symptom relief and day-to-day function are your priority right now. A ChondroFiller® injection can still play a role by reinforcing the joint surface, often paired with other non-surgical options while regeneration progresses in the background.
The pathway model is grounded in real-world outcomes from over a decade of ChondroFiller® injection use across multiple joints.
A ChondroFiller® injection is an acellular collagen gel delivered directly into a cartilage defect. It gels in minutes, leaving a three-dimensional scaffold where your own cells migrate in and rebuild a hyaline-like joint surface over the following months.
No incision. The acellular collagen gel is delivered into the defect under image guidance and sets in minutes.
Native cells migrate into the scaffold and build new cartilage. There is no donor tissue and no foreign cells.
The regenerated tissue resembles the gold-standard joint surface, rather than the weaker fibrocartilage seen with simpler repair techniques.
A note on scope: this page covers the ChondroFiller® injection pathway only. If your consultation suggests pairing the injection with Stem Cell / Medicinal Signaling Cell co-delivery, Prof Lee will discuss the separate LiquidCartilage™ pathway at that point. The self-assessment above is designed to route you toward the right injection-only pathway first.
These are the questions patients most often ask before completing the ChondroFiller® injection self-assessment or after seeing their pathway result.
The questionnaire suggests a pathway based on your goals, joint history, and what you want from treatment. It is not a diagnosis and does not confirm that a ChondroFiller® injection is suitable for your specific joint. The pathway is confirmed at consultation with examination, imaging review, and a discussion of options.
Not at all. The Support pathway simply means symptom relief and function are the priority right now. A ChondroFiller® injection can still reinforce the joint surface and support regeneration. Prof Lee may also pair it with other non-surgical options so that you feel better in the short term while the scaffold does its job in the background.
Yes. Your answers save automatically as you go, so you can come back to where you left off. Once you complete the questionnaire your progress is cleared, and you can start again from question one any time.
Imaging is helpful but not required to book. If you already have an MRI report, X-rays, or an arthroscopy report, bring them to the consultation so Prof Lee can map the right ChondroFiller® injection plan from the first appointment.
The ChondroFiller® injection is joint-agnostic at a technique level. It has been used in knees, hips, ankles, shoulders, and smaller joints. There is no upper age limit and no defect-size limit on the injection. Suitability for your specific joint depends on the pattern of wear on imaging and the condition of the surrounding cartilage, all of which are assessed at consultation.
A ChondroFiller® injection is the scaffold delivered into the joint to coat the cartilage surface, with no age or defect-size limit. LiquidCartilage™ is a separate surgical procedure that delivers the ChondroFiller® scaffold together with Medicinal Signalling Cells through a single keyhole operation, regenerating native cartilage at a contained area of damage. The two are distinct procedures invented by Professor Lee for different patterns of cartilage damage. This self-assessment is focused on the ChondroFiller® injection pathway. If your consultation points toward the surgical pathway instead, Prof Lee will discuss LiquidCartilage™ separately.
The ChondroFiller® injection self-assessment is provided for educational and shared decision-making purposes only. It does not constitute medical advice, does not provide a diagnosis, and does not confirm that a ChondroFiller® injection is suitable for your specific joint. The pathway labels (Prevention, Regeneration, Combination, Support) describe broad approaches to joint preservation and are not a clinical recommendation.
Final injection plans depend on specialist consultation, clinical examination, imaging review, defect size and location, joint mechanics, treatment timing, and your personal goals, in accordance with UK regulatory and medico-legal standards. Outcomes vary between patients, and the published evidence base reflects our specialist clinic's ChondroFiller® injection protocols and patient population. Where a consultation suggests a combination approach, this is discussed as a separate LiquidCartilage™ pathway and is outside the scope of this self-assessment.
The self-assessment points at a direction. A consultation with Prof Lee turns that direction into a specific ChondroFiller® injection plan, with imaging, examination, and the joint in front of him.
London Cartilage Clinic
Clinical updates, cartilage treatment guidance, and recovery-focused articles from our specialist team.
Most new knee, shoulder and back pain is managed first with structured rehabilitation, not surgery or immediate scanning. Recurrent giving way, marked weakness, or red flags such as unrelenting night pain, fever, weight loss, trauma or neurological symptoms prompt earlier specialist review.
ChondroFiller is a cell-free type I collagen scaffold placed into focal cartilage defects to support repair, and small knee studies report improved pain and function with no major implant-related complications at 12 months. Its main attraction is a lighter surgical footprint than microfracture, OATS or osteochondral allograft, but long-term evidence remains limited.
Worn knee cartilage does not reliably grow back to normal hyaline cartilage, while ACL and meniscus injuries can raise the risk of post-traumatic osteoarthritis. Repeated swelling, giving-way, catching or true locking point to ongoing joint stress and a need for specialist assessment.
