Can a Sponge fix Athlete’s Knees?

The Wall Street Journal—February 3, 2016

Matthew Futterman, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, reports on a new technique established by Martha Murray, MD, and Lyle Micheli, MD, of Boston Children's Hospital that prompts the use of a sponge to repair an ACL tear.

The article notes that Dr. Murray experimented the benefits of using a thumb-size sponge (opposed to a graft) to serve as a bridge between the loose strands of the ACL and flushing it with the patient's blood allowing the bridge to grow.

Robert G. Marx, MD, MSc, FRCSC, a sports medicine surgeon at Hospital for Special Surgery comments on the study stating that he is "'very optimistic' surgeons won't have to use grafts from the patient's leg to fully repair the ACL," but that he isn't "sure the sponge-and-blood substitute is the solution."

To learn more about this study, visit WSJ.com. (Subscription Required)