New ACL Fix Coming Soon to Knees Near You

The Boston Globe describes the ACL–the anterior cruciate ligament — as “the mother of all
ligaments in the knee.” When it works properly, the ACL stabilizes the knee and
prevents hyperextension. But when it is torn, as, the Globe tells us, happens about 200,000 a year, it does none of the above, and it hurts like hell. And while ACL repair has long been a booming business, it is hardly a perfect science. In most repairs, surgeons fashion a new ACL from tendons pirated from other parts of the body. They do that, it turns out, because unlike most human tissue, ACL’s cannot be counted on to heal themselves. At least not quickly or thoroughly. That’s because knee joints are loaded with a wonderful natural lubricant called synovial fluid, which has the unfortunate ability to prevent blood from clotting, as is necessary for sound healing. Now, the Globe reports, Boston doctor Martha Murray and fellow researchers have found a way to encourage ACL tissue to mend more quickly and more thoroughly, with help from a glue-like scaffloding made of of collagen and platelet-rich plasma. The good news is that the ACLs in Murray’s experiments heal at the same rate as do other ligaments. The bad news is that those ACLs belong to pigs. Human trials are said to be 18-months down the road. Can anyone say “oink”?