Your body can transform a donor ligament into its own living tissue.

The process of a body adopting an allograft is known as ligamentization. This biological phenomenon begins shortly after surgery as the recipient's body initiates an inflammatory response to the donor tissue. During the first few months, the graft undergoes a stage called necrosis, where the original donor cells die off while the collagen structure remains intact as a biological framework.Following this, a process called revascularization occurs. New blood vessels grow into the graft to provide nutrients and oxygen. This allows fibroblasts, which are specialized repair cells, to migrate into the donor tissue and begin depositing new collagen. According to studies published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, this remodeling typically peaks between 6 and 12 months post-operation.By the end of the second year, the donor tissue is almost indistinguishable from a natural ligament under a microscope. This technique is widely used by organizations like the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) to treat severe sports injuries. Because the tissue is processed to remove cellular markers, the risk of the body rejecting the graft is extremely low compared to organ transplants. This allows patients to recover full joint function using biological material that eventually becomes part of their own DNA profile.