Hasbrouck Heights, NJ, Athlete Gets Innovative ACL Surgery

August 31, 2023
At an exhibition soccer game in February 2023, after executing a side tackle, Kelis Guzman felt her left knee pop and click when she stood up. "It wasn’t painful, but it felt very unstable," says the 10th grader from Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. "Something was definitely wrong."
Kelis, who plays on the New Jersey Crush Girl Academy-level soccer team as well as in the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL), sat out the rest of the game, believing it might be a muscle sprain.
A visit to a local emergency room showed nothing suspicious on an X-ray, so the doctor sent her home. After a few days, it hurt to flex her leg and she had limited range of motion. Her mother, Karin—a patient access specialist at Hackensack University Medical Center—took her to see orthopedic surgeon Amit Merchant, M.D., who had treated Kelis in 2021 for a broken ankle.
An MRI confirmed she had torn her ACL (anterior cruciate ligament), one of the most common sports injuries.
A New Option for ACL Surgery
Kelis’ options included two to three months of physical therapy, but without surgical treatment, she would need to wear a brace every time she played soccer. She simply wasn’t interested in doing that.
Dr. Merchant told her about the Bridge Enhanced ACL Restoration (BEAR) Implant. The BEAR Implant is an innovative treatment that promotes the body’s own healing processes to join the ends of a torn ACL.
"I thought it sounded super cool," Kelis says. She didn’t like the idea of traditional ACL reconstruction, which would have used a piece of her own patellar tendon. She wanted to do all she could to increase her chance of playing Division 1 soccer in college.
"The BEAR Implant is the first device developed to help a person’s ACL heal on its own," Dr. Merchant says. "This approach offers an alternative to conventional ACL reconstruction, which uses a tendon from another part of the patient’s body. That can leave a patient with pain where the tendon was retrieved."
Here’s how it works:
- BEAR, a spongy collagen implant, is infused with a patient’s blood.
- The surgeon positions it between the two torn ends of a ruptured ACL during arthroscopic outpatient surgery.
- The implant holds and protects the patient’s blood in the gap between the ends of the ACL and promotes the formation of a clot.
- Within eight weeks, the BEAR Implant is resorbed and replaced with a person’s natural cells, collagen and blood vessels.
- The new tissue continues to rebuild itself and strengthen over time.
Successful Surgery and Recovery
Kelis went home the same day of her surgery using crutches. She started physical therapy a week later, and within six weeks, she was up to three weekly sessions. Her range of motion is returning well, and she should be able to go back to playing soccer by December 2023, having allowed her body and the BEAR Implant to heal her injured ACL.
"I feel pretty good knowing I’ll have my own ACL back," says Kelis, who would like to pursue a career in health care. "It was really cool learning about this innovative procedure. I’m so grateful I was able to have it and that it will let me get back to my sport."
Adds Dr. Merchant: "This technique is a way to restore a patient's native ACL. It's not just sewing two ends of the ligament back together, but rejuvenating the healing process and getting a patient back to 100 percent."
Next Steps & Resources:
- Meet our sources: Amit Merchant, M.D.
- To make an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon near you, call 800-822-8905 or visit our website.
The material provided through HealthU is intended to be used as general information only and should not replace the advice of your physician. Always consult your physician for individual care.