Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation. A revolutionary treatment option for patients with large articulous cartilage lesions of the femur  (medial, lateral, trochlear) who have had inadequate response to a prior arthroscopic or other surgical repair procedure. Carticel® (cultured autologous chondrocytes) from Genzyme™ is a commercial process to grow (culture) a patient's own cartilage cells for use in treating damaged articular cartilage of the knee. Eighty-five percent of patients with femoral condyte defects were improved after 36 months.