INJURED North Queensland fullback Matt Bowen hopes the radical surgery that worked wonders for teammate Ty Williams will save his career, too.

The 26-year-old has struggled to overcome a painful left knee injury after off-season surgery and another minor clean-out recently.

Now he will miss the rest of this season to have an operation that involves implanting artificial cartilage being harvested in Western Australia.

The Cowboys took the step of harvesting cartilage from Bowen's knee in his last bout of surgery several weeks ago and it was sent to Western Australia to grow in an artificial matrix.

The artificial cartilage will then be implanted into Bowen's knee - the same operation winger Williams endured and recovered from last year.

"Matthew has damage to the articular cartilage in his left knee. The minor surgery has not assisted with this problem and we are planning to repair this area of damage," Cowboys doctor Kevin Arlett said.

"We have harvested some cartilage from his knee which is being grown on an artificial matrix and this will be used to repair the damage in a further surgical operation. Our experience with this operation is very limited. It is a fairly new operation.

"Ty Williams went through it and he has now got a fairly normal-looking knee.

"He doesn't have any problems with it and we are hoping for the same result with Matty."

Arlett says the operation, which will take place in Townsville next month, is "more than a reconstruction" but Bowen's age and fitness levels will boost his chances of a speedy recovery.

The Cowboys are hopeful Bowen will be cleared to make a comeback for the start of the 2009 season.