Anyone on here have experience with ACI surgery? New knee Doctor recommends I get it done but the recovery is a year while the new cartilage hardens. Which means a year+ of rehab and no riding allowed. Would love to hear anyone’s experience with this surgery as I know it is very specialized and there are only a few places in the country that do it. Thanks all.
What is the ACI? I had tore my MCL and ACL last winter and had the AC L - anterior cruciate Ligament - repaired last April. The Medial ligament heals on its own.
The year-long recovery is probably true (I say probably bc it has not yet been a year for me and I am 95% recovered) but if you are fit and strong now, and do your PT, you will be doing things like riding before the year is up.
My knee is strong enough now to do everything I want to do - but I don’t play soccer or ski moguls. It was a full 6 months before I could run a mile.
But, elaborate on your injury and we can be more helpful.
Wow.
I would be hesitant to sign up for that. Looks to be a fairly new procedure…do you really want to be the guinea pig?
I’ve not had knee stuff, but I have had hip stuff. I wish I’d pursued EVERY non surgical treatment option before going to surgery.
I’d consider the surgeon’s success rates very carefully, and also find out just how many of these he’s done.
My doctor has been doing it since 1995. He’s pretty experienced and has a good reputation. Having gone through an unsuccessful surgery to realign my patella I am taking a lot of time before I make any decisions.
ACI is where they go in and take a little bit of cartilage out and then Genzyme grows it in a lab. They can hold onto the grown cells for two years. Whenever I’m ready within those two years I would have open knee surgery where they remove the damaged cartilage and graft on the new cells. It then takes the body about a year to harden those cells into cartilage. It has a better success rate than other procedures at repairing cartilage.
I’m trying to do as much research about this procedure before I make any decisions.
Wow - that’s an interesting thing. Amazing if it works. I guess if it was me, i would be weighing the results with the recovery period. They say they have been doing this for 10 years, and while I imagine they have improved things along the way, you should probably find out what the people who had it done 5-10 years ago are doing now - has it held up? Did they have any further issues? Essentially has it been worth the risk and recovery time.
These things probably have a lot to do with why you need the repair to begin with - an accident vs. degeneration from genetics?
Have you checked insurance coverage?
Will insurance pay for that much physical therapy? Mine limits physical therapy to 60 visits per year. Most times I have had PT, it has ranged from $140-260/visit depending on what was done.
I’m sure some of it would be self directed but I’m sure they would want fairly regular visits to check progress?
Susan
