The article is devoted to the actual direction of modern orthopedics — surgical treatment of local cartilage and osteochondral defects of the knee joint. The first part of the article includes the analysis of the current situation on this problem in the national health care. There are suggested the ways of the implementation of modern biotechnology in the practice of medicine. The second part of the article presents the analysis of surgical treatment of 39 patients with full-thickness cartilage or osteochondral defects of the femoral condyles. All patients applied autologous matrix-induced chondrogenesis technology, based on tunnel­ing subchondral bone and implanting collagen matrix. A high percentage of positive outcomes of such operations (in terms of up to 5 years) indicates undisputed promise of using biomaterials in the treatment of cartilage damage.