Bentonville Physician on Cutting Edge of Orthopedic Surgery

Dr. Chris Dougherty, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist at Northwest Health System in Bentonville, recently performed a groundbreaking meniscus procedure on a 12-year-old girl, the youngest patient to date and one of the first in the United States to receive the treatment.

Using the second generation NovoStitch® Plus meniscal repair system, a technology developed by California startup Ceterix Orthopaedics Inc. of Silicon Valley, Dougherty was able to suture the patient’s meniscus — the shock absorber of the knee — as opposed to removing, or partially removing, the cartilage.

The NovoStitch device allows orthopedic surgeons to access horizontal, radial, and other complex tears that were previously impossible to reach.  The technology, cleared for domestic commercial use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in July, uses a “gun” to push a sewing needle through the meniscus. The suture is captured on the back end by the gun’s upper jaw, allowing the suture to be tied.

“It makes the surgery easier,” Dougherty said. “It’s less time and you can fix more difficult tears. We’ll be able to save more knees.”

About three years in the making, NovoStitch Plus came to Dougherty’s attention in 2014 through the Arthroscopy Association of North America. When he saw it, he knew he had to have it.

“It’s one of those things that’s so simple you say, ‘I should have done that,’” he said.

According to Ceterix, there are about one million meniscus surgeries every year, but only about 10 percent of them are for repair. The rest are for partial and full removals. The problem, Dougherty says, is that meniscus removal all but guarantees arthritis, which in turn can necessitate a full knee replacement.

The reason why the meniscus is still being removed is simple — due to its small size and location, it’s difficult to treat with standard technology. Dougherty, who teaches a class on NovoStitch Plus in Las Vegas, said he hopes that will gradually change.

“I see other surgeons adopting the technology because it’s easier to do,” he said. “It’s the future of meniscus repair.”

He is currently the only surgeon in the state using NovoStitch Plus. He is also working with Rotation Medical, a system by which a patch is placed on the rotator cuff to induce new tissue growth.

While Dougherty is not afraid to try new technology, he is also not afraid to invent it. He currently holds four patents and two more inventions are patent pending with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He also hosts his own channel on YouTube, where viewers can watch a few of his more exotic procedures. In addition to his work at Northwest Health, Dougherty is the team physician for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, the AA affiliate of the World Series champion Kansas City Royals.

When Dougherty was still a student at the University of Missouri, he played cornerback for the Tigers football team. But after his foot got caught in the Astroturf and he tore his meniscus, his playing days were over.

But life after football proved fruitful for Dougherty. The meniscus injury, treated with a partial removal, sparked a lifelong interest in orthopedics. The biology major would earn his medical degree from the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences, complete his residency at Oklahoma State University, and round out his education with a fellowship in Sports Medicine at the University of Kentucky.

He was a surgeon at Missouri Orthopedics & Sports Medicine before arriving here in 2006 for a position at Northwest Health’s Agility Center Orthopedics. While the majority of his patients are young, Dougherty treats people of all ages. And while the torn meniscus is typically associated with sports, the cartilage can be damaged by something as mundane as slipping in the bathroom and twisting the knee.

On the cutting edge of his profession, Dougherty has been recruited by big city hospitals across the country, but he’s not interested in moving. Both him and his wife Tina are “small town” Missouri natives, and both are within a two-hour drive of their parents. The couple has three children, two boys and a girl.

When patients ask him about advanced orthopedic procedures, he tells them the same thing he says about his own life.

“You don’t have to leave Northwest Arkansas,” he said.