Three Biotech Solutions For Knee Repair

[Can_of_corn]

Coincidence?

Look what just showed up in my Twitter feed.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/three-biotech-solutions-for-knee-repair/

A study published in December 2014 found it took just four to six weeks to restore a sheep's meniscus using this method. If successfully developed for humans, the new approach would be far superior to what physicians can offer today, which in most cases is simply to remove the ripped tissue if it is causing pain or disrupting knee function. ?What we are shooting for is true joint regeneration,? Mao explains.

Although modern orthopedic surgery does a good job of getting people back on their feet and, in the case of professional athletes, performing at exalted levels, it does not restore an injured knee to its original condition and generally fails to stop?or even exacerbates?the long-term deterioration of the joint.

A newer biologic is made of bone marrow instead of blood and is richer in stem cells than PRP. It, too, is extracted from the patient (through a thin needle in the hip, under local anesthesia) and concentrated using a centrifuge. Bone marrow aspirate concentrate, or BMAC, can be turned into a dense clot that serves as a blood-red spackle that surgeons use to fill gaps in cartilage and to surround and nurture grafted tissue.

Although the biologics appear to promote healing, they cannot generate a sturdy enough scaffold to repair a torn meniscus or ACL. That is why researchers are trying out 3-D printing and other innovations. At Boston Children's Hospital, Murray is testing a small cylinder of spongelike material?made of proteins such as collagen that are found in connective tissue?as a scaffold for repairing a torn ACL.