The First BEAR Implant in Central Washington!
Back in October, I had the distinct honor of working with Micah Orthopedics to bring the BEAR Implant to Central Washington. The BEAR Implant is the first medical advancement that enables the body to heal its own torn anterior cruciate ligament. Generally, when an ACL is torn, there are two major factors that affect a patients ability to regain normal knee function:
The torn ACL is in an elongated or nonnative state, ie: the ligament is stretched out like a rubber band or a scrunchy that has been used too many times. Therefore, the ligament doesn’t work like it used to.
The intra-articular (area inside the knee joint) state is an area with less than ideal perfusion, or blood supply, so the ability of the ligament to heal the tear is decreased.
The first BEAR Implant IN CENTRAL WASHINGTON
Therefore, instead of depending on another tendon from the body or a tendon from a deceased donor, the BEAR Implant works with the patient’s own blood to heal the torn ends of the ACL back together. Through this medical innovation, we can perform an ACL repair that allows the ACL structure or native length and tension to be restored, allowing the patient to both restore structure and heal the ligament.
No one treatment is the correct treatment for every patient! In my practice, an ACL reconstruction with a patellar tendon autograft is still the gold standard for the majority of my patients with an ACL tear, especially young athletes. However, the ability to add another “tool to the tool belt” is exciting and the reason I continue to stay up to date on the latest peer reviewed literature as well as cutting edge innovations!
