A revolutionary knee treatment is to be launched by surgeons at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore.

The cartilege transplant operation is expected to save the careers of many sportsmen and women threatened by common knee injuries.

The NHS carries out more than 29,000 knee replacement operations a year, at a cost of £130million. But these provide relief for only a limited time. It is hoped that the new treatment will save money and lengthen young people's sports careers.

Cartilege transplantation involves the removal and replacement of a patient's knee cells. The removed cells are cultured and multiplied in a laboratory before being implanted back into the knee a few weeks later.

Professor George Bentley and Tim Briggs, surgeons at the hospital, have been trained to administer the new treatment.

Professor Bentley said: "One patient I cared for last year using a similar method is now running six miles a day, something he wouldn't be doing if treated by more traditional means."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000.Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.