ACL injuries seem to have become the norm in watching sports these days. Anytime a player goes down or falls awkwardly we know he or she probably inquired their ACL. It even cost Dennis Dixon of Oregon the Heisman Trophy last year. I believe Florida State's WR Cody Fagg tore his at the NFL Combine in Indy this year. (talk about bad luck)
There are more then 200,000 ACL tears in the US every year to mostly people participating in soccer or football between the ages of 15-25. I personally have a family member and a good friend who had their surgeries in their 30's.
The common ACL surgery reconstructs one bundle of the injured knee ligament. The new procedure now reconstructs both bundles of the ligament. The new procedure leaves the structures in a more natural position for more stability and could potentially prevent arthritis in the knee. There are two doctors doing this procedure at the Henry Ford Hospital in Novi who have preformed 25 of these since February and expect to do at least a 100 by the end of the year.
"(The surgery) is more demanding, and there is more risk ... but this is creating anatomy in a better way and it makes sense to more people," Kolowich said. "The trend is very favorable ... we are hopeful, but ongoing research is necessary."
The surgery has been done in other countries for about 10 years and has been studied in the U.S. since 2001, Perkins said. There are no conclusive studies yet, although early reports are encouraging, she said.
"We feel in five years or 10 years this will be the standard," said Dr. Thomas Perkins, who works with Dr. John Samani on the new procedure at the Michigan Knee and Shoulder Institute in Auburn Hills. "Double-bundle reconstruction is like a custom rebuild, more closely restoring the patient's ACL to the way it was before the injury," Perkins said. "By doing so, we are optimistic we can give athletes a knee that feels more like it did before the injury while hopefully preventing the devastating consequence of arthritis down the road."
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