Kevin Robert Stone (born June 4, 1955) is an American physician, orthopedic surgeon, clinician, researcher, and company founder of The Stone Clinic and the Stone Research Foundation in San Francisco.
Stone’s most notable inventions have led to:
the Collagen Meniscus Implant, the first successful and commercialized tissue-engineering template for re-growing the meniscus cartilage in the knee. This invention led to a public company, ReGen Biologics Inc. the first glucosamine beverage, Joint Juice, which gained wide distribution through the United States selling over 1/3 billion cans and bottles for people with arthritis. This company has been sold to Post Holdings. the first stem cell articular cartilage repair procedure called Articular Cartilage Paste Grafting which in long-term studies have demonstrated an 80% success rate at improving pain and function for people with arthritis. the three-tunnel technique of Meniscus Transplantation which has been demonstrated to be effective for people who want remain active and avoid a total knee replacement. the Rescue Reel, a personal escape device to permit people to escape from buildings as high as 100 stories. the Z-Process, an antigen stripping technique that humanizes animal tissues. The process allows the tissues to be implanted in people leading to the first successful xenograft ligament for ACL reconstruction called the Z-Lig. This device received CE mark approval for sale outside the US after completing a wide clinical trial in Europe and South Africa. Multiple other inventions using the Z-Process include antigen reduced Z- meniscus, bone, articular cartilage, heart valves, collagen injection, soft tissue reconstruction devices, and other applications.
Stone’s clinical work has focused on repairing and replacing meniscus, articular cartilage, and ligaments to keep people active. His busy clinic treats people from around world who come for biologic joint and tissue repair and robotic artificial knee replacement.
Stone’s public, non-profit foundation, the Stone Research Foundation, focuses on basic science and outcome studies that are mainly concentrated on cures for arthritis and techniques to speed the return of athletes to sports.
Stone is the past winner of the Resident’s Essay Award from the Arthroscopy Association of North America (AANA) (1989), The Cabaud Award from the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM), and The Albert Trillat Young Investigator’s Award from the International Knee Society (ISAKOS) (1989) and a Doctor of Humane Letters, honaris causa, from the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology.
His research has led to multiple peer-reviewed publications and over 50 US patents.
Stone is a weekly columnist for the San Francisco Examiner. He is also a regular blogger for The Huffington Post
Stone is an American orthopedic surgeon, who specializes in sports medicine and injuries of the knee, shoulder, and ankle joints. He has lectured and is recognized internationally as an authority on cartilage and meniscal growth, replacement, and repair. Stone is known for his development of the paste grafting surgical technique in 1991, combined with meniscus replacement, which are biologic joint replacement procedures for the regeneration of the knee joint.Nov. & Dec. 2006, AARP. He has taught these techniques to surgeons in the USJuly 2006, Men's Journal. p59. and worldwide.
He is the founder and chairman of the Stone Research Foundation for Sports Medicine and Arthritis, a center that conducts research in advanced surgical techniques and tissue regeneration in San Francisco, California. This research has led to advancements in cartilage replacement and regeneration, cruciate ligament repair and reconstruction, and techniques to prevent osteoarthritic degeneration. He holds more than 50 U.S. patents on healthcare inventions.Taylor, Jim, 2003. Comprehensive Sports Injury Management. p.251
Education
Stone was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1955. He was educated at the Moses Brown School and Harvard College, class of 1977, where he led the Eliot House Crew to row at The Henley Regatta and played polo. As a cum laude biology graduate, he enrolled in the University of North Carolina School of Medicine graduating in 1981. He was trained at Harvard’s Beth Israel Hospital in internal medicine from 1981–82, then in general surgery at Stanford University Medical Center from 1982–83, and lastly in orthopaedic surgery at The Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Residency 1983-1986. He undertook a fellowship in research at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York under Steven Arnoczky, D.V.M. and in knee surgery in Lake Tahoe under Richard Steadman, M.D., from 1986 -1987.
Clinical practice
Stone founded The Stone Clinic, combining himself, an orthopaedic surgeon, with a team of nurses, physical therapists, imaging specialists, and patient coordinators, in 1988 to focus on caring for injured athletes and people experiencing arthritis pain. The clinical practice goal of rehabilitating all patients to a level higher than they were before they were injured set the tone. Surgical procedures were subjected to rigorous outcomes analysis with the results reported in peer reviewed journals. The surgical techniques have been taught to surgeons around the world, through lectures and videos.
Stone is a physician for The Marin Ballet and The Smuin Ballet. He has served as a physician for the U.S. Ski Team,Nov. 2006, "Pop Goes the Tendon", The New York Times, Play. p32. the U.S. Pro Ski Tour, the Honda Ski Tour, the 48 Straight Ski Tour, the Old Blues Rugby Club, the Lawrence Pech Dance Company, the modern pentathlon at the U.S. Olympic Festival, and for the United States Olympic Training Center.
Research
Stone initiated his research career in high-altitude physiology under the direction of Ross McFarland, at the Harvard School of Public Health. Working with his associate Dr. Spengler, Stone searched for a high-altitude environment in a city and published the first paper on carbon monoxide in hockey rinks noting the effect of carbon monoxide on the hockey players' visual acuity was similar to that of hypoxia at altitude.
Meniscus research In 1984, Stone, at the encouragement of his mentor Dr. Steadman, turned his focus to replacing the meniscus cartilage in the knee joint. After two years of research to understand the biomechanics and biology of the meniscus, Dr. Stone concluded that if he couldn’t replace the meniscus, possibly he could re-grow it. With this approach he entered his Fellowship in research under the direction of Dr. Arnoczky and proceeded to design the first collagen meniscus regeneration template.
While a clinical fellow in Lake Tahoe, Stone initiated research at the Letterman Army Institute of Research in collaboration with Bill Rodkey, D.V.M., to test the collagen template in various animal models for meniscus, ligament, articular cartilage and intervertebral disc repair. These trials were subsequently published and led to several research awards including the Albert Trillat Young Investigator’s Award from the International Knee Society and the Cabaud Award in 1990 from the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine.The American Oprthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine :Cabaud Award recipients The FDA approved the first human clinical trial of the collagen meniscus scaffold which was carried out at The Stone Clinic from 1991-1994. Recent 15-year follow-ups on these patients revealed continuing successful outcomes. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave U.S. approval for a collagen meniscus implant (CMI) device designed by Stone in 2008.
Stone turned his attention to complete meniscus replacement with a biological implant(rather than re-growing the meniscus) in 1994. He published one of the first techniques for arthroscopic meniscus replacement in 1991 and conducted the first long-term study of meniscus replacement in knee joint arthritis which was published in 2006. The replacement of the meniscus permits the arthritic patient to have improved pain relief and knee joint function as well as delay or avoid the time for artificial joint replacement. In a 2 to 7 year follow-up study, 89.4% of meniscus transplantation patients were successful, having shown significant signs of improvement in pain, activity, and functioning.Stone, Walgenbach, et al. "Meniscus Allograft Survival in Patients with Moderate to Severe Unicompartmental Arthritis:2-7 Year Follow Up".Arthroscopy: Journal of Arthroscopic and Related Surgery, Vol 22, No. 3, May 2006, pp.469-478. A study on the outcomes of meniscus transplantation in active patients with severe cartilage damage found that the procedure provided significant improvements in pain and function levels for an average of 8.6 years with the majority of patients achieving their goal of participation in sporting activities.Stone, K. R., Pelsis, J. R., Surrette, S. T., Walgenbach, A. W., & Turek, T. J. (2015). Meniscus transplantation in an active population with moderate to severe cartilage damage. Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy : Official Journal of the ESSKA, 23(1), 251–7.
Articular cartilage research In addition to meniscus replacement, Stone focused on articular cartilage regeneration for the arthritic knee. His design of a “paste graft” technique with custom instrumentation was promoted by the DePuy-Orthotec orthopaedic company. The paste graft technique 2-12 year results were published in 2006 revealing 85% of the patients obtained improvement in pain and function scores.Stone, Walgenbach, et al. "Articular Cartilage Paste Grafting to Full-Thickness Articular Cartilage Knee Joint Lesions: A 2-12 year Follow Up". Arthroscopy: Journal of Arthroscopic and Related Surgery, Vol 22, No.3, March 2006, pp.291-299. A study on the efficacy of the paste graft procedure for patients with osteochondritis dissecans showed that patients were able to benefit from improvements in pain, activity, and function levels for an average of 7 years after the procedure, with some benefitting up to 13 years.Stone, K. R., Pelsis, J. R., Crues, J. V., Walgenbach, A. W., & Turek, T. J. (2014). Osteochondral grafting for failed knee osteochondritis dissecans repairs. The Knee, 21(6), 1145–1150.
Biologic joint replacement The combination of meniscus replacement and articular cartilage grafting led to Stone’s pursuit of biologic knee replacement, a technique to fully replace the damaged cartilage in the knee with natural tissues. This program is underway at The Stone Clinic and includes a stem cell with shell graft approach to replacing the articular cartilage surface of the knee.
Allison Gannet, a World Cup freeskier Champion, had had 7 previous knee surgeries before having a biological joint replacement, with Stone as her surgeon. This procedure included the articular cartilage paste grafting procedure, and following, Gannet reported being pain free for the first time in 8 years."Knee Injuries, How to Prevent Them and Recover Quickly". Denver Post. June 2008.
Aperion Biologics, Inc Xenograft ligament cartilage, bone, and tendon transplantation. FDA-Approved ACL Replacement Study 2003 - PRESENT CE Mark issued April 2014.