I'd say that Cho's initial comment that the team and Brandon would be meeting with other experts and considering all of their options is playing out. Obviously, if Roy and his doctors decide to do something in the way of surgery, he's done for the year. OTOH, if they rule it out as either not likely to solve the problem or and being too risky for a guy still who still wants to play pro ball, then it probably becomes a situation where they try to manage the knees and get a bit out of him the rest of the year.
No Nate bashing intended for this thread. He has been a slow paced coach for his entire coaching career. I think the players had to convince him, simple as that.
It is desperate, but what other choice is there? I googled "meniscus replacement" back in November when the "bone-on-bone" first came to light out of curiousity to see if the procedure even existed. I'm sure there's a reason it hasn't been brought up as a viable option until now - it's got to be loaded with possible complications. But it's just time to look at everything, including an unproven surgery to get our $80 million dollar guy back to 80% of the player he used to be (even if there's only a 50% chance of that, it's better than what we're looking at today)
Someone has to be the first... It would indeed be awesome if he got said surgery, recovered to 75% of his former self, and managed to be a productive player for a long time. And then yeah, players would have Brandon Roy's Surgery if needed.
For maybe the first time ever. Meh, not really. Although it does seem like it doesn't happen very often. I'll give you credit though, you did call this with Roy. When the season started you said he was shot, and I thought you were crazy. I argued that he strated slow last season and it wasn't until Oden went down that he rounded into form. I think I wanted to believe that. Now look at what you've made me - I'm in agreement that we should blow up our 26 year old star players knees and throw an old stinky meniscus from a cadaver in there. At this point I'm okay with playing "Craps" with Brandon Roy's knees . . . I guess he is #7, right?
As long as it can't possibly make his knees worse, go for it. Not 100% sure but I'm assuming they're reluctant to do it because of the fact the meniscus could just wear down very quickly because it's not his. I wonder what, if any, problems that could cause other then just treating it like a regular meniscus surgery if that were to happen. In the end I'm definitely no orthopedic surgeon but this surgery seems like the best chance to be the most effective option for him. It obviously directly attacks the problem of having no meniscus.
The body typically rejects organic material from a foreign source. That said, taking a ligament from a cadaver and sewing it into a knee used to be radical, and now it is somewhat common. If there really is no meniscus, then what is the harm if Brandon's body rejects the foreign meniscus (other than some sort of staph infection, of course). It could simply be removed, his knees are still shot, and he's still not playing.
According to the link I just posted in the other thread on meniscus transplant surgery, there's no concern about rejection because the transplanted material isn't living.
Why has it been done only to inactive players? Most likely it's so drastic that it could be career ending. No wonder it's a last choice surgery. Then again it might be it wouldn't be able to take the pounding of a nba season. What if he does it and that is true? Can he have it again when he retires or is it a one time thing?
Interesting. Thanks for the info. If accurate, it seems to be at least worth a try, doesn't it? If the meniscus can't stand NBA pounding and needs to be removed, then Roy is right back in the same spot.
Yup. They irradiate the hell out of cadaverous tissue to kill off any residual DNA markers that the immune system might reject and it works like a charm. I've got a cadaver's achilles for an ACL and it's fine.
The more you read about it there doesn't appear to be one overwhelming risk associated with the procedure, but there are many varying concerns. None of us know if this surgery is the answer, or if it will be successful (if the Docs can't even predict how this will turn out, how could we?) But as has been mentioned, somebody had to be "Tommy John" in order for the surgery to have an opportunity to bring a career back from life support. Now you have a number of guys who have come back from that surgery to be All Stars (Matt Morris, John Smoltz, David Wells, Kerry Wood, Chris Carpenter, and I'm sure there are many others). It's to the point now where Joe Nathan has it done and it's like, oh well he'll be out for a year but he'll be back.
Has Roy ever really had a healthy knee, let alone two during his time as a Blazer? He would be about 28 going on 29 two full years from now, so he might be better after the surgery. That would be something to see. Go for it Brandon, you can be a true inspiration to people.
I don't have a lot of expert knowledge in this field, but I have been to the doctors office once, so I'm pretty sure this suggestion is the right thing to do. What Brandon needs is not a meniscus transplant, but a whole bunch of them. Put 20 or 30 dead people's menisci in there. Give him so much padding that he can bounce like a pogo stick without his feet ever leaving the ground. We can rebuild him. Make him better than he was. Faster, stronger, more bouncy. barfo
