I recently emailed Dr McClurg some questions. On 3/14 I went on to talk with him abut the upcoming surgery. I asked about .ligament retaining surgery. In his opinion the jury is still out on its value. Dr. McClurg elated that leaving the ACL and PCL add complexity to rebalancing the joint. During surgery, he will make adjustments on the two outside tendons of the joint to keep even tension throughout the bending and straightening of the knee, thereby realigning my upper and lower leg. If the two inside ligaments are left in, they also would need to be accounted for. Years of damage have thrown them all off. Now the complexity of realignment has increased 16x!
He also bright up a patient who came to him who had retained the PCL. This person had fallen on some stairs and torn the ligament. The joint was rolling because it was designed to have a who,e PCL for support.
I also asked him about my high riding patella, or Patella Alta. cpuld he repair that during surgery?
"To a limited degree." He replied. "The length of the patellar tendon is already set. We canut in more material to raise the joint line a bit so that the patella is more likely to rest in the groove. However if we have to do a revision, which at your age is likely, we would have less to work with the next time."
I asked if I would be shorter.
"No."
I'm having the Smith and Nephew Visionaire one off cutting guides done. They were not able to fashion the guide for the tibia. The screw in their from the Hauser Procedure decades before through too much of a shadow on the MRI. I will be able to keep the screw after surgery.
Dr. Joel McClurg answered my questions patiently and from a solid knowledge base. I feel as confident and informed as I can.
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