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Soft Tissue Augmentation  |  Tissue Reinforcement Graft  |  Mechanism of Action

Soft Tissue Augmentation

Muscles, tendons, ligaments and fascia are all examples of soft connective tissues of the body. Injury or tears to these structures is common and severe tears typically require surgery to repair the damage. Arthroscopic and open surgical procedures to address rotator cuff, patellar, Achilles, biceps, quadriceps, or other tendons and ligament injury are the mainstay of sports medicine surgeons, while repairs to hernia and other internal structures are common for the general surgeon. In most instances, the surgeon will reattach the soft tissue using sutures that may pull through the repair if stressed.

The role of soft tissue augmentation is to use a supplemental graft to provide added strength to the tissue to hold the sutures in place during the healing phase. There are currently soft tissue grafts or patches available to the surgeon in the form of processed allograft, tissue from cadavers, or xenograft materials from animals like the pig. In many cases, these grafts are processed to reduce the potential for disease transmission and infection, which may reduce the graft’s effectiveness and limit the biologic potential for healing.

An ideal soft tissue graft would:

  1. Provide added strength to the soft tissue for suturing.
  2. Boost the biologic repair process.
  3. Ultimately be resorbed by the body, leaving healthy tissue in its place.