5352 Maria Burke: Surgeons go back to the wombs for joints cure.
New Scientist 21 August 1993, 17.
All of us stand a good chance of suffering from osteoarthritis as we get
older. Indeed, each year 40.000 hip replacement operations and 25.000 knee
replacements are carried out in Britain. Surgeons are studying ways of
resurfacing worn patches of cartilage with amniotic membrane. This membrane
is immune to rejection by the body and also thought to contain the stem cells
from which cartilage grows.

Paul Dieppe/John Kirwan/Cyrus Cooper/Neil McGill: Arthritis and rheumatism
in practice. Wolfe. 0-397-44588-1 (pbk). £ 20.

13642 Michael Hagmann: A gene for smooth-running joints.
Science 14 July 2000, 225-226. Some hope that pyrophosphate-based drugs
(similar to chemicals in tartar control toothpaste) may help against
arthritis.