Getting Knee Injury Tears To Heal Themselves

Again, the subject of this blog pertains to something we studied last semester but it's interesting and I have particular interest in it.

Tearing of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is a knee injury that affects over 100,000 Americans each year (it even happened to me.) It's been seen that most other ligaments in the body except the ACL are able to heal themselves. The reason why this fact was not also true for the ACL peaked Dr. Martha Murray's interest. She found that all ligaments, including the ACL, attempt to repair themselves. In most cases, a blood clot forms which, in effect, bridges the gap and allows cells to replicate and reattach the two ends of the ligament. However, even though cells in the ACL try to repair itself it doesn't work. Dr. Murray discovered that the fluid inside the knee dissolves these bridge forming clots which causes the ligament not to be able to heal on its own. This theory is supported by the fact that the MCL, another ligament in the knee that sits outside the fluid, is able to repair itself. Therefore, Murray decided that by introducing a bridge, the ACL could repair itslef. A collagen hydrogel infused with platelet-rich plasma is used for the task. Initial testing has yielded promising results, but further testing is necessary. If successful, Dr. Murray plans on furthering this research to meniscus and rotator cuff tears. As, well if this procedure is found to be succesful enough, current invasive procedure of tendon grafting will no longer be needed.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/03/060327214156.htm

Thomas Dietzman

Here's the link to the previous post:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/04/060419073829.htm