A joint condition where a piece of bone and cartilage loses blood supply and can separate.
Osteochondritis dissecans is an acquired, idiopathic lesion of subchondral bone in which a segment of bone and its overlying articular cartilage becomes ischaemic and may fragment or separate from the surrounding joint surface. It most commonly affects the knee (medial femoral condyle), elbow (capitellum), and ankle (talar dome) in adolescents and young adults, often in athletes with repetitive loading. Aetiology is debated — repetitive microtrauma, vascular insufficiency, and genetic factors have all been proposed, and management (activity modification vs. surgical fixation/fragment removal) depends on lesion stability and skeletal maturity.
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