Dr. Harner describes a woman's graft options for her posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) surgery.
Dr. Harner:
Graft choices for PCL reconstruction, if the patient is going to undergo surgery, that’s called a reconstruction. That’s where we replace a torn ligament with new tissue; that’s called a graft. The graft can come from the patient called autograft or from a donor called allograft.
Most surgeons prefer in this setting, in PCL injured knees, allograft tissue, and there’s different types of allograft tissues--Achilles tendon’s one, patellar tendons one. There’s one called semitendinosus and gracilis. There’s other tissue called posterior tibialis and anterior tibialis that can be used.
About Dr. Harner, M.D.:
Dr. Christopher D. Harner, M.D., is a Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania Professor, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Medical Director, and works in the UPMC Center for Sports Medicine and the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.
Visit Dr. Harner at the UPMC Center for Sports Medicine