Boston Children’s Hospital Hopes New Procedure Will Revolutionize ACL Treatment

BOSTON (CBS) – Doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital are repairing ruptured ACLs with a less invasive procedure, and they think it could change the course of treatment. Corey Peak of Cambridge took a nasty tumble on the ski slopes last January. “I heard two pops while I was falling,” Peak explains. “One was my right ski binding coming undone which is good because it helps protect the knee. But the other side I think was my right ACL rupturing.” Peak is among hundreds of thousands of people who tear their ACLs every year. Girls who play sports like soccer, basketball, lacrosse and field hockey are most at risk. Many require ACL reconstruction surgery where a tendon graft is used from another part of the knee.  That means patients have to recover from the ACL tear and the graft. “Most patients are out of their sports for six to nine months from surgery and most aren’t back to their pre-injury level until maybe a year after surgery,” says Dr. Martha Murray, an orthopedic surgeon at Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Murray and her team have now developed a procedure called “bridge-enhanced ACL repair.” A sponge is used to stimulate the ACL to repair itself. Over six-to-eight weeks, the ends of the torn ACL grow into the sponge and reconnect. Peak was their first patient. “Pretty quickly we noticed that my recover went a little bit faster than we might have expected with a reconstruction,” Peak said. Early results show this repaired ACL may w...
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health Local News Seen On WBZ-TV Syndicated Local Watch Listen Boston Children's Hospital Dr. Mallika Marshall Torn ACL Source Type: news