ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 26, 1991                   TAG: 9102260178
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short

BAVARO TO RECEIVE BONE TRANSPLANT FROM CADAVER

New York Giants tight end Mark Bavaro has a dead bone in his left knee, a condition that threatens his football career, and will undergo unusual surgery today in which the dead bone will be replaced by a bone from a cadaver.

Dr. Russell Warren, the Giants' orthopedic surgeon, will perform the operation at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan.

Two sources with knowledge of Bavaro's degenerative bone condition, known as avascular necrosis, said the new bone would hopefully become a framework allowing Bavaro's own bone to grow and create new cells, thus allowing him to play again.

This procedure is generally used with older people and is rare for an athlete. The dead bone is in the femur, the large bone in the thigh, where the femur meets the knee. - The New York Times 


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