By STEVE MASCORD
BRYCE Cartwright’s recovery from a devastating ankle injury marked a first for all of medical history and will be detailed in a globally-distributed medical journal during the finals.
While the story of the Panthers five-eighth being told he may never run again following the fracture and dislocation suffered against Canterbury 13 months ago has previously been told, League Week can reveal not a single human being who has ever lived has had the benefit of the treatment he received.
That’s because Sydney surgeon Dr Martin Sullivan used research he pioneered himself only two years ago to re-implant living tissue from broken cartilage into the ankle during the same operation that repaired the structural damage.
“It was a potentially career-ending injury – very similar to the one which forced Jharal Yow Yee to retire,’ Dr Sullivan tells League Week.
“What we learned from our research, we applied. It had never been done before. Previously, you would throw damaged cartilage in the bin. We submitted a paper on it to a medical journal, the Foot and Ankle Specialist Journal, and it has been accepted for 
publication shortly.”
Cartwright is a real life equivalent of Lee Majors’ 1970s television character the Six Million Dollar Man. They had the technology (only just) and they rebuilt him.
As a world expert in ankle injuries who has treated 11 Origin players this year, Sullivan discovered via tests on 150 patients that living cells remained in broken cartilage.
Previously, any patient who had suffered damage articular cartilage was condemned to a life of painful arthritis – but by extracting the living cells from the broken cartilage from a patient, a recovery from such injuries suddenly became possible.
The secret was to think quickly during surgery and apply the principles of the research on the spot. (continued below)
“Bryce’s ankle was broken and dislocated. Because Bryce had also ruptured his syndesmosis, the cartilage had travelled up towards his knee,” Sullivan recalled.
“We were able to find it, fish it out and break it up and re-implant it on the spot into the damaged area. He had a plated fibula and all this other stuff but a career-ending injury became a six month injury.
“People have written about his injury before but I don’t think they appreciate that it was something that has never been done before.”
The original research won the World Sports Medicine Award at Carlsbad in 2014.
Along with being the number-one off-loader in the NRL going into Sunday’s elimination final against Canterbury at Allianz Stadium, Cartwright is also one of the most damaging runners in the game – as evidenced by his eighth try of the season on Sunday night against Manly.
The medical paper, obtained by RLW, is largely in medical jargon but features graphic x-rays of a catastrophic injury.
It begins: “A professional rugby league player underwent surgery for a complex injury to the ankle.
“Patient was able to return to professional rugby league by 23 weeks post-operatively. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 16 months post-operatively showed restoration of the subchondral plate and osseous infill. At final follow-up the patient remained pain free, and was playing at pre-injury level.
“This report describes good outcomes using a novel, one-step cartilage repair technique to treat a large talar osteochondral lesion in a professional.”
Filed for RUGBY LEAGUE WEEK
