Doctor Mikel Sánchez graduated in Medical Studies from the University of Bordeaux (France) and validated his degree to obtain a degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of the Basque Country in 1979. He took the specialty in Traumatology and Orthopedic Surgery at the Santiago Apóstol Hospital in Vitoria-Gasteiz. During this time he was responsible for the facial trauma injuries service at the aforementioned hospital and was also assigned to the rheumatology and neurosurgery services to complement his specialty training. He worked as a specialist for the hospital's traumatology service until 1986. Since 1993 he has worked exclusively in the private sector and in the year 2000, he started work at the La Esperanza Clinic following his appointment as head doctor and as head of the traumatology, orthopedic and arthroscopic surgery service. That year he also set up the Arthroscopic Surgery Unit (UCA) within the clinic facilities.
He has pioneered the advance of Arthroscopic Surgery in Europe and in Spain. He is a member of the Leeds-Keio work group, Rheumatism Research Unit, University of Leeds, UK and Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Keio University, Japan. The Leeds-Keio group was an Anglo-Japanese collaborative project whose aim was to promote the development of arthroscopic surgery in Europe and Japan, especially knee and shoulder ligament replacement surgery.
He has worked with renowned names in the field of arthroscopic surgery such as Hideo Matsumoto and Bahaa Botros Seedhom. He has developed surgical instrument prototypes for anterior (ACL) and posterior (PCL) cruciate ligament reconstruction as well as techniques and instruments for treating recurrent shoulder dislocation. This technology and the functional and biological concepts on which it was founded remain in force today. At international level he was the first doctor to understand the therapeutic potential of PRP and to apply it to the field of traumatology. He founded the Arthroscopic Surgery Unit (UCA) and the Biological Therapy Unit (UTB).
He has been awarded several prizes for his professional work including the Mapfre Medicine Foundation (2010) “Development of Applied Traumatology” Prize for his “Innovation in the Treatment of Tendon Injuries”; the Gold Medal from the city Vitoria-Gasteiz in 2007 for his work in the world of medicine; the 2003 Basque Country Prize for Sport for his scientific and technical contribution to sports development; the Third National Prize for research into Sports Medicine from the University of Oviedo in 2002 and 2003 for the application of plasma rich in growth factors (PRGF®-Endoret®) and its use in the treatment of tendon injuries.
Mikel Sánchez discovered the impact of PRPs in Sports Medicine and initially intended to use this in the arthroscopic treatment of a knee cartilage avulsion in a young footballer (Sánchez M, 2003). Furthermore, he also innovated in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction surgery, inventing a method for Intra-Operative preparation of bioactive grafts for reconstructive surgery of the anterior cruciate ligament using the tissue engineering paradigm (Spanish Society for Arthroscopic Surgery Prize, 2003). The aim of this surgery is to achieve rapid (transformation of the tendon into ligament) and also to rapidly fasten the ligamentoplasty to the bone (Sánchez M, Arthroscopy 2010).
Currently he is a member of the Basque-Navarrese Society of Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology (SVNCOT). Likewise, he is also a member of the "International Society of Arthroscopy, Knee surgery and Orthopaedic Sports medicine" (ISAKOS).
In 2006 he created the first Biological Therapy Unit (UTB) in Vitoria-Gasteiz at the USP La Esperanza Clinic facilities to successfully treat, using platelet-rich plasma (PRP), hundreds of patients and world-famous sportspersons.
Mikel has both the ability and the vocation to teach and for this reason he has devoted a great deal of energy to teaching his surgical skills and experience in arthroscopic techniques to those currently forming part of his team.