Cartilage defects affect patients of all age groups. Surgeons, teamdoctors, general practitioners and physiotherapists alike are expected to provide adequate care. Only individual treatment plans combining a well balanced choice of various options will be successful. In this book, background knowledge, operative and non-operative therapies are described in concise chapters: Articular cartilage biology; Diagnostics; Surgical techniques; Symptomatic and alternative medications; and Physiotherapy. Diagnostic findings and surgical procedures are generously illustrated by aquarelles and colour photographs. Recommendations for additional reading, description of important clinical scoring systems and a listing of analytic tools are added for further information.