But there isn't long term success with this surgery yet. Maybe Burfict and Cloney will change that but is is extreme surgery.
This is from last year.
In the game he had 40 snaps, Lamur had 11 and Carter 1.
Microfracture and its success rates
Microfracture is an arthroscopic procedure in which the surgeon uses what looks like a fancy ice pick to make small holes in the bone several millimeters apart. Blood then flows from these holes into the defect. The blood and other growth factors create an inflammatory process that leads to the formation of fibrocartilage. This fibrocartilage is rougher and more brittle than the normal type of cartilage that lines the bones, but it’s better than exposed bone.
For small cartilage defects, microfracture is thought to have reasonable short-term success. Dr. Richard Steadman, who pioneered the surgery, found that 76% of the NFL players in whom he performed microfracture returned to play the following season.
The long-term results after microfracture surgery are more concerning. A study of 24 NBA players who underwent the procedure showed that only 58.3% returned to play for more than one season after the surgery. Performance suffered greatly after players returned, with average points, rebounds, assists and minutes played dropping after microfracture. And one third of the players never returned play at all.
The challenge of restoring normal articular cartilage
The problem with these poor results lies less with the surgery than with the underlying injury. Orthopaedic surgeons have no way to regrow or make articular cartilage new again. Microfracture creates fibrocartilage, which might be adequate for athletes returning to play in the short-term, but it could shorten their careers and lead to long-term arthritis.
Other surgeries, like transferring cylinders of bone and cartilage from other parts of the knee or culturing cartilage cells in the lab and re-implanting them into the defect are much more invasive surgeries that would be extremely difficult for returning to professional sports.