If you have the misfortune of tearing your Anterior Cruciate Ligament (one of the main stabilizers of your knee) and you are active or have instability with day to day activities you are likely a candidate to have your ACL rebuilt or more accurately, reconstructed.

There are many graft sources that could be used. The two broad categories are either cadaver tissue obtained from a tissue bank or tissue harvested from somewhere on the patient’s own body.

There are pros and cons of each. Also, the surgeons comfort level and familiarity using one type of graft versus another can influence the choice.

At Active Sports Medicine we have a large experience with ACL reconstruction using many different types of grafts. We have evolved in such a way that we routinely individualize the graft choice for each patient. Although there isn’t usually a perfect graft choice for a particular patient, recent studies would indicate that there may be a “better fit”. Check with your surgeon. Ask what graft choice will be used. Maybe even inquire how or why that graft was chosen.

At Active Sports Medicine we routinely provide second opinions for surgical patients. Often times the benefit we provide is not whether surgery should be performed or not but rather time is spent explaining the procedure and the decision making process leading up to the surgery. Sometimes the patient didn’t get that from their treating surgeon or the information didn’t “sink in” the first time. Sometimes the patient asks to stay in our practice following the second opinion. However, most times the patient returns to their original surgeon in order to follow through with their surgery and hopefully that patient is more informed and as such more comfortable with their decision.