NOTES - Surgical Procedures :

preference of ACL graft??? - - Posted by mariposa (mariposa), 9 April 2004

I'm having a hard time deciding what's the best choice of graft for my ACL surgery.
My OS prefers allograft, using some tendon from the ankle area.  Sounds good because of its strength but I've heard that because they have to radiate allografts to prevent disease transmission, that there's higher chance of it streching?
Also I wonder (maybe ignorantly) about how often bodies "reject" allografts simply because they are foreign?

I'd appreciate anyone's opinion....Do you feel like you made a good choice of graft?  Would've done it differently?

mariposa
Posted by bdmrad (bdmrad), 15 April 2004

I had MPFL reconstruction with allograft. OS felt there would be less comorbidity - other option was my own quad tendon.  I did not have much post op pain which I probably would have had with autograft.  
There is one well respected sports OS here that prefers allograft but most use autograft.  I did a little research and found a report on PubMed reporting some more laxity with allograft but I don't know if it was considered clinically significant.
I put aside  nudginess and went with what my OS preferred though he would have used my own tissue if I had insisted. Only downside is that Red Cross won't take my blood for a year.
Posted by ATsoccergirl (ATsoccergirl), 16 April 2004

Actually there is no such thing as graft rejection with these types of grafts.  Ligaments and tendons do not contain any immunity factors, so they do not elict a "foriegn" response.  What happens is that for some reason they will fail to revascularize, this is generally attributed to the sterilization procedure.  
Posted by Aubz87 (Aubz87), 19 August 2004

my OS suggested that I not go with a pattelar graft to avoid knee issues in the future, but he did suggest an allograft, the one your talking about, and I ended up going with that one, mainly because I didnt want to deal with a graft site, and I trusted my OS's suggestion as to what would be best for me..

and it's working out fine so far..

I'd look up some options online and talk with your OS...Im sure you'll come up with the best solution for you...

good luck!

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