Article about UCL repair

[Heezy1323]

I recently came across an article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about one of the Cardinals pitchers who underwent UCL repair, and thought it might be of interest to some people here. For those not familiar with the difference, a UCL repair is a procedure where the injured ligament itself is directly repaired back to bone, as opposed to UCL reconstruction (Tommy John procedure) where different tissue is used to make a 'new' ligament. I have known about this procedure for some time (and have heard Dr. Dugas talk about the first patient he did this for), but it is interesting to see its growth to the professional ranks. Hope people enjoy...

 

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/maness-a-trailblazer-new-surgery-for-elbow-repair-cut-recovery/article_165ee721-5a36-58f9-8d8e-fb515ba037da.html

 

Edit: Apologies, I didn't see this link had been posted elsewhere.

 

[biggentleben]

I also wrote about this, and it's very similar to the procedure that Jeff Passan talks about in "The Arm". Excellent possibilities, but only certain tears would qualify.

[Heezy1323]

 

I also wrote about this, and it's very similar to the procedure that Jeff Passan talks about in "The Arm". Excellent possibilities, but only certain tears would qualify.

Do you have a link to your post/article? I'd love to read it.

'The Arm' is such a great book. Excellent reading for those interested.

 

I co-authored some research with Dr. Andrews that shows that around 80% of tears occur at either the humeral or ulnar end of the ligament- making the majority of tears potentially amenable to treatment with this technique. As you mention, tissue quality is also a variable, and poor quality tissue can necessitate reconstruction. Looking forward to seeing results in the coming years.

 

[biggentleben]

It was a summary piece featuring Seth Maness' case specifically...

 

http://calltothepen.com/2017/02/08/seth-maness-elbow-surgery-change-mlb/

[Heezy1323]

It was a summary piece featuring Seth Maness' case specifically...

 

http://calltothepen.com/2017/02/08/seth-maness-elbow-surgery-change-mlb/

Nice write up! Thanks for sharing