Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Collagen-Platelet Composite

A colleague of mine requested I blog about this article so here it is. A very interesting article about enhancing healing of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament.

Joshi et al. Collagen-Platelet Composite Enhances Biomechanical and Histologic Healing of the Porcine ACL. AJSM 37 (12), 2401-2410.


Important to note the sample here was 18 pigs (27 knees), all 4 months old and female. The immature population is a good one to study because these injuries do happen in youth quite often and they are the most likely to develop OA down the line. The authors do cite that pig knees are similar to those in humans with subtle differences not yet clearly appreciated.

They did find that the addition of a CPC injection enhanced primary ACL repair in that structural properties of CPC-treated ligaments increase. The big takeaway for rehabilitation is the need to respect the healing stages after such a surgical procedure. This study only looked from 4 weeks through 3 months which does lose out on the very important post-operative inflammatory stage and the full remodeling up to 1 year.

I have seen a few ACL repairs, but have not seen the addition of CPC or PRP to assist the operation. It is important to note that in ACL surgery, a repair and a reconstruction are two different procedures that should be approached with respect to the expected healing process and times.

PS, I apologize to the JETS for posting a pic which seems to jinx (like that darn sports illustrated cover) them every time... there is always next year... :(

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