First BEAR implant surgery for torn ACL performed in the state

Dr. Philip Myers at Singing River Gulfport is the first doctor in Mississippi to perform the BEAR implant.

The BEAR implant is a less invasive surgery used to treat a torn ACL, which is a ligament in the knee. Usually, ACL reconstruction surgery involves taking a graft tendon from another part of the body to replace the torn ligament.

The BEAR implant is made of collagen. The surgeon fills the implant with your blood and inserts it in the space of the knee that the ACL would be. Over eight weeks, the ACL heals itself. “From a technical standpoint, it’s not exceptionally different than traditional ACL with what we have to do intra-operationally. However, not having to harvest a tendon from a patient is a huge win for a patient because we don’t have to recover that area of their body, as well as the ACL recovery.”

Dr. Myers and his staff are closely monitoring the patient who received the surgery throughout their recovery.