ICRS Cartilage Lesion Grade (0-4)

ICRS classification (International Cartilage Repair Society; Brittberg 2003) of a chondral defect graded at arthroscopy by depth.

Open the calculator → Runs in your browser. Data leaves only if you deliberately send a problem report from the interactive tool.

Example

ICRS grade
4 — severely abnormal (through subchondral bone, osteochondral)

Result: ICRS grade 4: complete cartilage loss with the defect penetrating through the subchondral bone plate (osteochondral).

The tool opens with these values already filled in. Replace them with your own.

What the result means

Grade 0 / 1
Normal cartilage (0) or nearly normal with an intact surface — softening or superficial fissures (1).
Grade 2 / 3
Lesions < 50% of cartilage depth, no exposed bone (2); defects > 50% depth, down to but not through subchondral bone (3).
Grade 4
Complete cartilage loss penetrating through the subchondral bone plate (osteochondral).

What you enter

  • ICRS grade
How this is calculated

Brittberg M, Winalski CS. Evaluation of cartilage injuries and repair. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2003;85-A(Suppl 2):58-69. Read the source ↗

A reference and educational tool. Not medical, legal, or financial advice, and not a substitute for clinician judgment.

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Built by Clay Good. Source on GitHub.