ACL PCL Repair
ACL PCL Injury
This is an injury suffered in the knee joint mostly by the atheletes and sports persons. The knee joint has two spring like structures made of soft tissue called Ligaments. One of them is Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) and the second one is Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL). In sports like soccer, track and field, rugby, basketball, volleyball wherever you have sudden impact or jerk such injuries are common place. A lot of patients come from the defence forces who suffer this injury during their strenuous exercises.
The injury itself can be of two types – either there is a partial tear of the ligament or there is complete tear. The moment you suffer is injury there is severe pain in the knee joint. In most of the cases you would have swelling in the joint within few hours. If you apply ice pack on the knee joint then the swelling subsides in few hours or days. However slight pain and instability of the joint remains during walking. The patient must take complete bed rest and apply cold pack on the knee joint for some days. You should immediately consult an orthopaedician or a sports physiotherapist after the injury. If the pain does not subside in a few days then you might have to undergo an MRI scan of the knee joint which will provide information about the extent of the injury.
If there is a partial tear in the ACL / PCL then it can heal with rest and conservative treatment. However if the tear is complete then surgery is mostly required.
Indications for ACL PCL Surgery
One must not rush into surgery after an ACL or PCL Injury. Unless there is a complete tear of the ligament one must try the conservative treatment for 1-2 months before deciding on the surgery. However in cases of complete tear, surgery is the best option once the swelling has subsided. The decision to go for surgery also depends on whether you want to return to professional sport. If you do not require a very active physical activity then you can avoid the surgery. All pros and cons would be explained to you by our Arthroscopic Surgeon.
Non-surgical treatment may be appropriate for patients who are less active, do not participate in activities that require running, jumping or pivoting, and are interested in physical therapy to regain range of motion and strength to match the uninjured leg.
Who does this Surgery
The Orthopaedicians these days can be classified into 3 categories – Trauma Surgeons, Joint Surgeons and Arthroscopic Surgeons. Most of the orthopaedic surgeons are either trauma surgeons or joint surgeons and very few of them are Arthroscopic Surgeons. Dr. Praveen Tittal and Dr Anant Joshi are two of the biggest names in India when it comes to Arthroscopic Surgery. In this surgery anchors are used to join the torn ligament to the knee joint. The surgery is done using an arthroscope which means that there are no big incisions and the patient gets discharged from the hospital within one day.
Cost of ACL PCL Surgery
The cost of ACL / PCL Surgery is USD 2500 – 3000 using FDA approved implants with one day of hospital stay. The stay in India would be one week after which you can travel back to your home town. The cost would USD 2000 – 2500 if Indian implants are used.
Physical therapy is the mainstay of rehabilitation regardless of whether or not a surgery is performed. This is the best way to get rid of initial pain. Rehabilitation and return to normal function after surgical repair of an ACL tear can take between 3-6 months for full recovery. A balance between things to do and those not to be done has to be kept for maximum recovery and muscle strengthening. After the surgery our rehab team is in constant touch with the patient through video calls to make sure that proper rehab is taking place back home.
