Author Topic: ACL surgeon recommendation in London? (Read 4593 times)

rex · « **on:** November 26, 2007, 12:38:37 PM »

Hi all,

with a heavy heart I'm thinking I need to go under the knife again. I've had two reconstructive ops on my right ACL, the first hamstring and the 2nd patella. I'm determined this time will be the last!

to that end I'm desperate to get the best surgeon I can to help me on my way, preferably one with experience of re-mending knees that have gone a few times.

Any views, positive or negative, on surgeons in and around London very gratefully received.

cheers, rex

Kaputt_Knee · « **Reply #1 on:** November 26, 2007, 02:28:20 PM »

There is a list of surgeons in and around London on the information pages. go to the home page and follow the links to the recommendations.

Sue

in Germany

norcalgirl · « **Reply #2 on:** November 26, 2007, 02:39:02 PM »

You are so lucky to be close to one of the best knee guys in the whole world!!! His name is Dr. Georg Barisani and he operates out of Golden Cross hospital in Vienna. He is a master at repairing knees using LARS artificial ligaments. The person to call for information is John Korah 43-664-424-7207 in Vienna. He will receive your MRI and set up a phone consult. We flew from the US to have my son's knee repaired---amazing results. Another guy from our town saw my son's success and had his acl repaired there(took 15 min--he filmed it for utube!) You can check out my son's whole story at : keepmovingusa.com I set up a website to help Americans get to this surgery. Email me if you have more

's

The KNEEguru · « **Reply #3 on:** November 26, 2007, 06:59:01 PM »

Hi
I have had a good look at the website you have made. It looks very much like a corporate website advertising LARS ligaments and the Vienna team.

I am happy to link this website to Dr Barisani's page on our site - http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/KNEEsurgeon/barisani01/contact.php - but it seems inappropriate here and is very far away from London.

KNEEguru

rex · « **Reply #4 on:** November 27, 2007, 10:47:28 AM »

Thank you Sue, I'm aware of the list of surgeons but I'm more interested in personal experiences with any of them / any other surgeons in the same area. I'd be much happier going with a surgeon because someone said they did a fantastic job, rather than because their name appears on a list

any thoughts welcome!

cheers, rex

Kaputt_Knee · « **Reply #5 on:** November 27, 2007, 11:28:34 AM »

Hi Rex

An Australian KG who spent time in London speaks highly of the cooperative work between knee surgeons and sports injury specialists at a clinic in London. If you search for a user called KJWilkin they have the details - I've a memory like a sieve and as I am no longer based in the UK it does not interest me much. I've heard good things by the way about the Wellington Clinic, but do not know anything about the individual doctors.

Personally speaking, although word of mouth is a good indicator, I do not feel that we as the patients can always give an impartial assessment of a surgeon. As in all things the perception of good and bad we have are formed by our subjective personal experiences and the outcomes as we evaluate them. A surgeon who is excellent for one person may be the pits for another. In the end I think all surgeons who are acknowledge by their peers to be good surgeons in their field of expertise are probably the ones to go for and hope that they have good people skills.

Have you looked at the web site links in the list?

Sue

in Germany

norcalgirl · « **Reply #6 on:** November 28, 2007, 01:46:25 AM »

Dear Knee Guru Guy, I will take it as a compliment that my website looks so professional! I am actually a stay-at -home mother of 6 who just wants people to know that there is another option out there. The guy who did my site has a few friends that have LARS, some done by Dr. Barisani, some by others. Dr. Barisani does about 300 acl repairs using LARS every year. But he is only one of many OS using LARS world-wide. I am the link between Americans and the most recognized LARS surgeons. This was done so that:
1. The LARS info is in one spot with links.
2. The docs are busy men who will rarely take the time out of their schedules to return calls to America. By organizing patients, the docs can review MRI's every few days and then spend an hour or so contacting patients(7-9hr time difference!)
3. Having any type of injury is stressful--remember we lived this as a family--I have taken as much stress out of the process as possible.
4. Word of mouth is big with LARS. 75% of Americans that I am co-ordinating have had a LARS previously used in another joint, have a friend with a LARS or have read a newspaper article about LARS patients.
5. LARS really has had no big interest in repairing American ligaments--they are busy enough. I pushed for the OK to be able to provide this link. We feel very blessed that our son was healed with LARS and want to pass the good fortune on.
So please KneeGuru, don't shut the door on this option. If nothing else, we should all become better consumers when it comes to our health and healing. If we just accept what we are spoon-fed from the powers that be, we are fools.

norcalgirl · « **Reply #7 on:** November 28, 2007, 02:04:14 AM »

I have quite a long list of docs world-wide who I can direct a patient to. I focussed on Dr. Barisani because he healed my son and 6 of his friends . There are docs in Canada, Italy, Romania, Dubai, Hungary and Austria willing to accept American patients. All surgeries are performed in state-of-the-art private hospitals. Dubai is the recent hot-spot destination because the value of the dollar to euro is awful in Europe. All of the LARS docs in Dubai are European and english-speaking. The hospital is new. The flight is long but the cost is about 30-40% less at this point. Airfare was $996(NY-Dubai) for a bmx guy having surgery saturday. LARS isn't for everyone but worth checking out for sure............

Jaci · « **Reply #8 on:** November 28, 2007, 02:30:09 AM »

Norcalgirl,

I looked at your website. Looks like a solicitation for your services to me. When you registered to use this website you agreed to the terms of usage which state that solicitations are inappropriate to this board and will not be posted.

Jaci

Charliemouse · « **Reply #9 on:** November 28, 2007, 10:56:03 AM »

Personally I would prefer to see more long term information on synthetic ligaments before I considered it and then only if there were no other options left. Any way Rex is looking for surgeons in London not Canada, Italy, Romania, Dubai, Hungary and Austria.

Do you really not recieve payment for your coordination services? It looks like an ad to me too so I would suggest you pay for your advertising like anyone else would.

norcalgirl · « **Reply #10 on:** November 28, 2007, 04:11:30 PM »

I HAVE NOT MADE A PENNY FROM LARS! It is so amazing to me that even if this was a profitable venture how that fact would somehow lesson the successful technology that LARS has created. Few question the drug companies that sell drugs for a huge profit..... LARS is approved all over the world. They produced their first ligament in 1992 and have continually improved it when research halted in the US after the Gortex mess. LARS hasn't pursued the US market because of the time, cost and paperwork involved. I don't know of a better way to spread the word about LARS than through personal experience and a website. I would love to hear your ideas. The long-term studies are out there. Check European Surgical Research to start. LARS switched from a weave to a knit a few years back(2003 I think, so watch the date of the studies you find). One interesting thing that I have learned is that there is a growing number of US orthos having LARS used to heal their own knees but can't recommend it to patients---something to think about..........

rex · « **Reply #11 on:** November 28, 2007, 06:23:40 PM »

stop this stop this! As Charliemouse points out I'm really interested in surgeons in and around London. Does anyone other than Sue in Germany have anything useful to say!!

rex

norcalgirl · « **Reply #12 on:** November 28, 2007, 07:34:46 PM »

Sorry--just felt I needed to defend myself a bit. Dr. Jonathan Beacon is the recommendation that I can give you. I have left a message asking for his contact information and will pass it on when I get it. Regards

Silkncardcrafts · « **Reply #13 on:** November 29, 2007, 03:03:45 AM »

Hi Rex,

I would highly recommend Pure Sports Medicine in London. I was a patient there for a couple of years when I lived in London and found them fantastic. Their phone number is 0870 2000 878. Check out their website at www.puresportsmed.com They have links to some of the best surgeons in London and the UK. I would suggest seeing one of their sports physicians/doctors that will be able to refer you onto someone good.

Let us know how you go !!!

Kaputt_Knee · « **Reply #14 on:** November 29, 2007, 08:33:22 AM »

There you go Rex - I knew you'd get the info you wanted in the end

Just need to shout loud sometimes in order to get heard. I'm just surprised that some of theother London based Geeks have not piped up with more up to date recommendations!

Don't forget to let us know how things pan out!

Sue

in Germany

knee-will-be-great · « **Reply #15 on:** November 29, 2007, 04:29:25 PM »

Hi Rex and Kneegeeks and Norcalgirl,

Firstly, Rex, sorry for high-jacking your thread - but I just had to put my two cents in regarding this "LARS" synthetic ACL advocate (Norcalgirl).
___________________________________________

To Norcalgirl:

I read with some interest your website about the LARS. I do not know of any OS in Canada who uses this method - although you state it is approved for use in Canada.

I would dare say that the company producing and selling LARS products would have to authorise a supposed "arms-length" individual such as yourself to be a de facto advocate of this LARS product.

I could not see a company with a credible product allowing just anyone to create an "advocacy" website without that company's legal and marketing and brand management and risk management team being involved.
_____________________________________________________________

So you ARE part of the LARS product sales team, be it pro bono (oh yeah

) or otherwise.

It is a well-known fact that synthetic ligaments stretch and then break up and create extensive problems in a person's body.

Moreover, the ligament is a "PRODUCT", where according to standard business practises a "PROFIT" must be made and the targeted "return on shareholder investment" must also be made to ensure that the product stays viable and therefore continues being in the market and increases its annual sales. Increasing annual sales of LARS products is what it is all about from a business perspective.

While this LARS procedure may have been considered the best at the time for your son (perhaps from a cost perspective - because of the extent of his injuries), I would dare say that your advocating a synthetic replacement ligamentous product without substantiating your claims with links to a veritable pile of de facto longitudinal studies and literature presented in peer-reviewed orthopaedic journals by well-regarded orthopaedic researchers is totally inappropriate.[/b]

Moreover, I feel that it is an insult to the intelligence of many Kneegeeks for you to present such hype on this Kneegeeks website.

At this point in time you are presenting simplistic, unreliable and unsubstantiated subjective commentaries - not objective facts or studies involving thousands of LARS ACL patients who have been followed for at least 10 to 15 years by researchers in recognised centres of medical/scientific excellence.

***The short term recovery of a handful of people does not mean the product is good or safe or in the best long term interests of the patient who receives the LARS synthetic ACLs.

You are not only a cheerleader for this LARS product; you no doubt are a paid advocate and surgery coordinator.

I would conclude with great confidence that you are commission-based - based on the number of people you successfully solicit for surgeries using LARS.

Either or, your unscientific advocacy of said product on this Kneegeeks website just does not sit well in my gut.

Moreover, you advocate the "cheapeness" of a flight to Dubai to have said LARS surgery done.

Like many marketers and consumers have said about many products ... "You get what you pay for."

In summary, your advocacy of the LARS ACL product just does not sound right. Perhaps the deal is that your son receive free medical care for his knee whilst you advocate the LARS synthetic ACL. Or perhaps not - but we really do not know - do we?

Irrepsective of the fact that the LARS product is kntted (as YOU state) and the Goretex ligaments were woven, the ligaments are synthetic and do seem to break down and/or harden - yes?

_________________________

PS

To Norcalgirl:

Your comment "Another guy from our town saw my son's success and had his acl repaired there(took 15 min--he filmed it for utube!)" ... Oh yeah, the very fact that an ACL procedure took only 15 minutes says a lot of nothing - except perhaps a commentary about production line surgery and no consideration or no caring as to the attention to detail required for this surgery.

My OS took 2.5 hours to repair my knee - carefully.

KWBG

The KNEEguru · « **Reply #16 on:** November 29, 2007, 05:45:33 PM »

Hi Rex
This ACL Study Group has been active for a number of years, and represents surgeons with a special interest in surgery of the ACL.

http://www.aclstudygroup.com/acl_study_group.htm

I know you are wanting personal recommendations, but that cuts the list down a bit for you.

Regarding the 'thread hijack' issue, it is reassuring to me that members of the board are demonstrating informed judgement in their choice of both surgeon and surgical technique/materials. I have to a large extent let you down by concentrating my academic time to other issues, but it is time that I brought in some real expertise to build a suite of tutorials about current practice in ACL reconstruction.

KNEEguru

norcalgirl · « **Reply #17 on:** November 29, 2007, 07:56:02 PM »

Dear Knee Guys, I didn't even know about this site until one of your members asked me to post. I maybe looked at it when we were in research mode....don't remember. I am sorry that you have made all of these judgments about what I am trying to do.......I get so many emails that it seemed like an easier way to pass information along. My story is absolutely true as are the newspaper articles included. I have not found a patient that regretted their decision--when I do, I will add their comments. Positive and negative experiences carry value. The LARS company has been around since 1992. LARS have been used in Canada since 1992. They have not fabricated their research studies to promote sales---it would have to be a huge world-wide conspiracy. Dr. Duval and Dr. Labarou are 2 highly respected doctors using these ligaments. LARS ligaments are used to heal Canadian injuries for about 1000 patients every year, mostly acl's. The paper I am referring to in regard to a news story is not a tabloid--believe or not. The invitation was to be a part of educational opportunity---for people who are interested in the possibilities beyond our borders. I am not part of that process---they would be free to make whatever comments they wanted in response to what they would see---risky advertising at best! So, I am sorry that you are not interested and have closed the door on LARS. Then again, my aunt had the same reaction to microwave ovens when they were introduced...................

knee-will-be-great · « **Reply #18 on:** November 29, 2007, 08:10:27 PM »

Norcalgirl,

You appear to be an extremely unprofessional and thinly disguised marketer who really, in my opinion, should have legal action taken against you and the company you represent for your unprofessional commentaries and product promotion hype veiled in concern for people's ligamentous knee problems - in other words MISREPRESENTATION - and for your company's (the LARS company) allowing this misrepresentation to occur.

______________________________________

(1) You are the de facto contact for LARS synthetic ligaments in the USA. Your job is to solicit and book patients for surgery in Austria. You no doubt get a cut from the referrals you make to other OS's who use LARS synthetic ligaments. That's why you are so relentless and dogged in your approach to discussing this on the Kneegeeks website. Hey, you think you have a captive audience who will fall for your mom-who-created a website story/fabrication.

(2) You identified yourself as Becky Thomas in one of your Kneegeek postings. Here it is:

"Who is this??? I am Becky Thomas if you are not going to attack LARS!!! My website is: keepmovingusa.com Call me!!! you secret person!"

(3) That same Becky Thomas is listed on the LARS SYNTHERTIC LIGAMENT website.

Here is the information that I found on the LARS Ligament commercial website:

United States Residents Contact:
Keep Moving USA
Contact Person: Becky Thomas
Office: (707) 478 - 9123
E-Mail: info@keepmovingusa.com
Web Site: www.keepmovingusa.com

You also referred someone to a J Korah (his email), when a Kneegeek asked for help about ACL repairs.

Here is your posting:

"I would contact jkorah@larsband.at for information on LARS and Dr. Barisani. They successfully repaired my son's blown-out knee---very short recovery time(4 weeks) and is now playing D-1 football in the US."

Well, that same J Korah is the Sales Director for LARS LIGAMENTS. Why would you refer someone to the Sales Director for LARS Synthetic Ligaments?

Here is the information from the LARS Ligament commercial website about J. Korah.

For Technical Inquiries:

Contact: James Korah
Sales Director
Tel: (514) 668 - 4444
E-Mail: jk@larsligament.com

__________________

You, Norcalgirl, are simply attempting to sell a product. Do you really have a son who returned to playing varsity basketball 4 weeks after multiple ligament synthetic grafts were placed into his body?

Here is what you said:

"Another guy from our town saw my son's success and had his acl repaired there(took 15 min--he filmed it for utube!) You can check out my son's whole story at : keepmovingusa.com I set up a website to help Americans get to this surgery. Email me if you have more q's."
Here is more of what you said:

"I would contact jkorah@larsband.at for information on LARS and Dr. Barisani. They successfully repaired my son's blown-out knee---very short recovery time(4 weeks) and is now playing D-1 football in the US."

Both your so-called Home-grown" website outlining your "son's" multiple ligamentous repair and the website for the LARS synthetic ligaments have been created by the same website developer - in Wichita.

But you say the following:

"I created a web page with my son's knee story: www.keepmovingusa.com"

Aren't there some legal ramifications associated with misrepresenting yourself in print about who you are and what you are doing - and why you are doing it?

You, Norcalgirl, have been found out. You are a marketing shill for LARS LIGAMENTS. You have an "office" phone number and a commercial website listed on the Kneegeeks board. And you are not paying for it - because you are pretending that you are advocating as a "concerned mother" whose son was healed by said synthetic ligament repairs.

NOTE: You have also bombarded Bob's ACL Kneeboard with similar marketing-related information veiled in "concern".

________________________________________________

FINAL COMMENT: Check her out Kneegeeks .......... The SELF-IDENTIFIED Becky Thomas - aka Norcalgirl - the USA Contact for LARS LIGAMENTS.

Check out her postings. She is all hype.

Here is what she said on Nov. 28th.

"I have quite a long list of docs world-wide who I can direct a patient to. I focussed on Dr. Barisani because he healed my son and 6 of his friends . There are docs in Canada, Italy, Romania, Dubai, Hungary and Austria willing to accept American patients. All surgeries are performed in state-of-the-art private hospitals. Dubai is the recent hot-spot destination because the value of the dollar to euro is awful in Europe. All of the LARS docs in Dubai are European and english-speaking. The hospital is new. The flight is long but the cost is about 30-40% less at this point. Airfare was $996(NY-Dubai) for a bmx guy having surgery saturday. LARS isn't for everyone but worth checking out for sure............"

Now - why would a so-called, self-identified stay-at-home mother of six be offering her EXTENSIVE LISTING of Orthopaedic Surgeons world-wide to we Kneegeeks. Are they the ones who use the LARS synthetic ligaments?

Check out the LARS website. You will see her name (aka Norcalgirl/aka Becky Thomas) clearly listed there.

http://www.larsligament.com/contact-us.html

For shame Norcalgirl, (BeckyThomas), that you would think we are so stupid as to fall for your machinations.

KWBG

knee-will-be-great · « **Reply #19 on:** November 30, 2007, 01:52:18 AM »

Hey Norcalgirl,

We Kneegeeks did some checking and we find that besides your presence on the Kneegeeks Bulletin Board, you are flogging the LARS synthetic ligament product on the following not-for-profit knee injury helping non-commercial community websites:

These are the ones that we know of to-date:

1) Bob's ACL board

2) Teton Gravity Research (skier/ snowboarder site)

3) medhelp.org

4) knee1.com.
_________________

Dear Kneegeeks, here is what one well-informed person stated on BOB's ACL Knee Board:

http://www.factotem.org/cgi-bin/kneebbs.pl/noframes/read/323403

Here's what another well-informed person stated:

http://www.factotem.org/cgi-bin/kneebbs.pl/noframes/read/323077

Here are further comments:

http://www.factotem.org/cgi-bin/kneebbs.pl/noframes/read/323404
__________________________

And now, here is what Becky Thomas aka self-identified Norcalgirl stated:

http://www.factotem.org/cgi-bin/kneebbs.pl/profile=becky+thomas

And here is her invitation to be part of the US to Vienna experience of a patient for LARS synthetic Knee Surgery:

http://www.factotem.org/cgi-bin/kneebbs.pl/read/325714

And here is more of what she has to say:

http://www.factotem.org/cgi-bin/kneebbs.pl/noframes/read/323145

Here are comments from that link: "I sent 3 MRI's to Austria already from people visiting Bob's site Also, please give reference to what "sales reps" are down-playing the lack of long term studies comparing LARS to artificial ligaments and to traditional surgeries. It is a major issue in my book--Americans love studies and I am quite sure that my character and motives would not be questioned so much if there was a study done. You say that autografts are not for sale like LARS--so are you saying that ligament surgery using patient-harvested parts is free?"
_________________________

Does it sound like someone has some commercial interest in this LARS surgery referral and consultancy she is flogging?

Would it seem that someone is getting paid - be it through a shadow company, a holding company, a private OS or group of OS's, or, she / her family members could be getting paid in kind with benefits of some sort being provided in kind - but no doubt some financial benefits are making her way to her.

I suppose the only way we will know is if we see her income tax statements.

KWBG

norcalgirl · « **Reply #20 on:** November 30, 2007, 03:51:57 AM »

How come you never ask questions, only make statements? I will tell you all of the sites that I have posted on if you just ask..........it will save you a lot of time. I must assume that you are either an ex-patriot living abroad or someone that champions saving weak Americans from making terrible medical decisions--either way, thank you. The world does need people like you to help decipher all of the information available---it's just over-whelming otherwise. To that end, I must ask you to clarify something for me: I have always believed that there are other countries around the world that have good medical care, top rate research and use cutting edge technology. I also thought that the medical community was one of those groups with a vision that looks beyond borders and language, working for the good of all people. So assuming that is true, why would so many other countries approve the use of LARS ligaments? Surely, the UK has standards......what about France, Italy, Canada etc. Are these countries just medical minefields or do they have a governing body(like the US FDA) that sets regulations in order to protect people? What is the approval process? What is the review process? Do these governments do long-term studies or are they privately funded? If LARS is truly all that you say it is, then you have a lot of work to do in order to have all of these countries take LARS off the market....you are wasting your time on me! There are many LARS being used around the world every day so don't waste time! If you are successful in having these ligaments banned for use around the world, then I will thank you for protecting my family along with all of the poor, innocent fools with ligament injuries who were not able to see the truth had it not been for your efforts.

Jaci · « **Reply #21 on:** November 30, 2007, 04:03:58 AM »

Norcalgirl,

The problem is the manner in which you are promoting the product. What we take issue with is that your website and posts read like some amateurish sales brochure.

Where is the scientific research to back up your claims? Where are the peer reviewed medical journal articles? Where are the long-term research studies on the product? They are not on your website and you have not offered them up.

I looked at the articles/ testimonials on both your website and the LARS website. Why am I not surprised that not a shred of scientific research was included? I did find Danny Way's explanation of bone-patellar tendon-bone grafts to be quite enlightening, though. Who knew that they took cartilage to repair an ACL? There was a disclaimer stating that Danny Way is merely discussing his own experience, but I found it strange that there was no attempt on the part of someone at LARS to correct the inaccuracy. To me the absence of a correction feeds misconceptions about the nature of B-T-B grafts which of course supports the use of some other type of graft. Feeding off such misconceptions is an odd (and some might say unethical) way to promote a product.

I did a fairly extensive search for information on LARS ligaments; the reality is that there are few if any recent scientifc, peer reviewed articles. That's what I take issue with.

Re: The medical device approval process in other countries-- Doesn't the onus lie with you for researching and presenting that information? At least it might lend some small amount of credibility to your LARS claims.

Once again-- Solicitations/ advertisements are not allowed on this website. Go somewhere else to push your product.

Jaci

knee-will-be-great · « **Reply #22 on:** November 30, 2007, 04:05:28 AM »

Dear Kneegeeks,

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25916

If you can't access this link directly, go to the Teton Gravity dot com forums - then look for Gimp Central - and then the postings for LARS artifical ligaments.
_________________________________

Norcalgirl is obviously trying to promote a commercial product - a product without much (if any) long-term scientific substantiation of said product's viability.

Norcalgirl is the surgery coordinator for one / a number of surgeons who use LARS synthetic ligaments; she is not on this website to help anyone per se. She is simply flogging a product.

KWBG

Charliemouse · « **Reply #23 on:** November 30, 2007, 08:47:50 AM »

If you search for lars on here you find some old threads and one person who is less than happy with her synthetic ligament. You might also note that they appear to be used as an augmentation device rather than a stand alone replacement in the UK but again information is limited so this may not be accurate.

Show us links to real peer reviewed research and maybe you will be less prone to attack on these boards, I've not seen any convincing evidence that would make me choose lars yet.
Your website is (not surprisingly ) heavily biased towards the lars option with some very misleading statements about other surgeries. I've not known anyone who has been immobilised after an autograft (patella or hamstring) in recent years unless they had another procedure done at the same time, most people are up and moving, at the very latest, the day after surgery.

If this product is so good get it licensed in the states. Stuff the cost, obviously every orthopaedic surgeon in the states is going to want to use this method over whatever methods they use now, so you should make your money back several times over.

I am slightly concerned that the gullible will fall for your advertising and make a poor choice but the fact they have made it to this site would suggest they are seeking information and hopefully won't be persuaded by a dubious website.

One more thing what on earth has your being a mother of 6 got to do with anything, who cares, it doesn't add any weight to your argument (or lack of it).

The KNEEguru · « **Reply #24 on:** November 30, 2007, 12:58:01 PM »

Hi everyone
Rex, I am sorry that your thread zoomed off in this direction. Norcalgirl will not be participating further in this thread and I trust we can get back to focusing on your concerns regarding choosing a surgeon in London. Please clarify for me that it is London UK - and not London Ontario - that we are discussing here so that we don't go off on the wrong tangent again.
KNEEguru

Ferris · « **Reply #25 on:** November 30, 2007, 10:39:11 PM »

Dear Rex

If you are in London, England then can I recommend Mr Dominic Spicer at London Bridge Hospital and St Mary's Hospital. He did my ACL reconstruction almost 3 years ago (January 2005) and I haven't looked back since. He specialises in ACL revisions which should be good in your case.

Rachel

rex · « **Reply #26 on:** December 02, 2007, 01:43:32 AM »

Yes I am in London, England. Thank you again Rachel, Sue et al s for recommendations and comments (and Kneeguru if you have any more please let me have them). I shall let you know how I get on and hope that next time my thread doesn't spark a diplomatic incident!

cheers, rex

cassieoz · « **Reply #27 on:** December 05, 2007, 01:39:21 AM »

Hello

I had an ACL recon using hamstring with NHS at the new Euston university college hospital in London. This was done by DR HADDAD he is wonderful and has a lot to do with athletes returning to sport like myself. The Physios also help work towards people getting back to sport so im thinking this is always a good start even if you don't plan to play sport.

Im now 4 months post operation and going great. I had a grade 2 medial healing on its own and a meniscus tear repaired along with the ACLr. I was walking the first day after surgery and my ROM was brilliant from the start.......so good i thought my graft was loose. I met another girl who also had the same surgery as me, a day earlier, and like me she is recovering just as quick and no problems!

At first i was on the waiting list and it was quite a long wait for Dr Haddad and i asked if another surgeon could do it as there were dates available but 2 other Dr's from that ward both suggested i wait for Haddad as he is the best surgeon. Hearing that i was prepared to wait just over 6 months but i called to say i wanted to go on his cancellation list, fortunately i got a call a few weeks later telling me he has added extra days too his week for a popular demand.

I can honestly say im very happy with the way i have been treated and by the sounds of other comments i have heard about this surgeon (and that comes from the anesthetist as well) that he would definately be my number one choice.

Hope this has helped you

Cassie

scoffs · « **Reply #28 on:** December 07, 2007, 10:41:29 AM »

Hi Rex

I have to echo Cassie praise of Fares Haddad. I had him personally recommended to me and I have found him to be excellent both clinically and on a professional level. He diagnosed and fixed my posteolateral corner injury last year and this had puzzled 2 other consultants.

I've seen him at the Princess Grace Hospital in London and wouldn't trust anyone else with my knee.

Hope that helps.
S

.