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Has anyone older had an ACL repair with an allograft (donor) graft?

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fuzzybabybunny
Posts: 24 - Karma: 35
I tore my ACL and have a slight tear in my medial meniscus.

The surgeon thinks the meniscus will either heal on its own or be repairable. It's my first time tearing my ACL.

I'm 33 years old, and my surgeon gave me the choice of either using my own hamstring tendons (autograft) or a cadaver tendon (allograft) to reconstruct my ACL.

If I was under 20 years old, he would *definitely* have me use my own hamstrings. For people over 40 he almost always recommend people go with a cadaver tissue.

I'm in kind of a weird age range so I don't know what to choose. I ski everywhere, paraglide, play tennis, dive, but no contact sports. I'll do drops and jumps but nothing too extreme.

If he uses donor tissue, it'll be non-irradiated because radiation is known to weaken the tissue. He wants to get it from an Achilles tendon of someone under 40 years of age. I'm leaning towards the allograft because the thought of more incisions and possibly compromising my hamstring muscle group has me worried. I checked out some YouTube videos of the hamstring operation and they take out huge strands of tendon with muscle attached.

Has anyone here used an allograft (donor tissue) for an ACL repair before? How old were you and how has it been? Which tissue did you use and do you know if the reconstruction was double bundle or single bundle?
May 8 2018 10:28PM
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HaydenWrong
Posts: 986 - Karma: 2,165
Note: not a doctor

When I did mine, the doctor told me there is a small chance your body wont like the new part. I had the hamstring graph, PT'd my ass off ripping just as hard with a brace two years later. Good Luck man hope you recover fast and get back out there!!!!
May 9 2018 8:22AM
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Jahhsss
Posts: 672 - Karma: 2,326
At the US ski team they highly advise us against cadaver tendons. When I tore my acl it was more of a decision between hamstring or quad graft.. From what I was told a cadaver has a higher rate of re injury compared to your own body tissue. I went with hamstring and think it was the right choice, I'm 26. I stretched my hamstring graft from skiing too quick but its still fully intact just a little looser. Rehabbing the hamstring wasn't as difficult as I thought. I definitely get pretty sore still but Im just under a year out. I would recommend the hamstring.
May 9 2018 8:57AM
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danbrown
Posts: 11932 - Karma: 21,775
I did mine just before my 29th birthday. I went hamstring. I had the same surgeon Joss did and I wasn't even given an option. After he reviewed my MRI, he came back into the room and said "So here's the deal - we're gonna cut a piece of your hamstring out, loop it around a couple times and you'll be good as new. Sound good?" I would do hamstring.
May 9 2018 2:12PM
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Upstate_Willis
Posts: 707 - Karma: 7,857
Hamstring, and if he is saying its not an option go get a second opinion first.
May 9 2018 7:21PM
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FlavourCountry
Posts: 33 - Karma: 81
i have had both types done one at the age of 12 and the initial one got infected so they used my other hamstring from my leg. its been about 10 years since that one and i rode with a brace up until 2 winters ago in which i tore my other acl and this time around my docter gave me a donor graft and so far its feels good. i haven't really put it to the test yet as i have just been cleared to return to activities but so far its been good, feels solid when i jump and run. with that being said my dr has used donor tissues in a lot of pro football players and hockey players, im one of the few skiers he's done this procedure to and he seems to think that it doesn't make a difference except with the healing time it takes a little longer to bond with the rest of the body tissue.
May 9 2018 9:03PM
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gr4
Posts: 1499 - Karma: 945
I used hamstring first time. Just had a second surgery yesterday and they used patellar tendon, same leg. Not much else to add but I am 28 and going with my own tissue. Just looking for some post surgery positive vibes haha
May 11 2018 2:16PM
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sklermang
Posts: 2981 - Karma: 1,953
I had a hamstring autograft at age 23, and my dad had a cadaver allograft at around age 45. I am familiar with the same conventional wisdom as you, which is that >40 means go for the cadaver. That being said, my doc (who is well known in the field and working on the cutting edge of new techniques: http://www.childrenshospital.org/aclbeartrial) was saying that cadaver allografts are generally undesireable because there is a higher risk or re-tearing later in life.

Now, that being said, my dad has done just fine with his cadaver tendon (his meniscus is fucked but that's unrelated). I am 2.5 years out from my hamstring autograft and feel great. My right hamstring is ever-so-slightly smaller than my left hamstring, but I can curl about 85% of the same weight with my left hamstring, and most importantly, I don't feel like it's impacted any of the activities that I do, including park skiing, soccer, basketball and long-distance running. Literally the only time I notice a difference in hamstring strength is doing isolated leg curls.

Hope this helps, and by no means am I a doctor!

**This post was edited on May 11th 2018 at 4:51:15pm
May 11 2018 4:50PM
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CT_CREW
Posts: 655 - Karma: 3,431
I would go patellar autograft if you can. Research done by Steadman clinic shows hamstring grafts often develop widening of bone tunnel where the graft hooks into your leg bones, causing graft to heal loose. It also jacks your hamstring up pretty bad.

got my knee done 3 years ago with hamstring, healed loose, tore lcl because of it last year. I'm 31 now, got a bone graft, patellar autograft for ACL, and cadaver LCL. Got all that done about 6 months ago. already healing tighter than previous hammy autograft ever did.
May 16 2018 11:57AM
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TheHamburglar
Posts: 3895 - Karma: 3,314
I got a cadaver graft on my ACL at age 20ish

I'm 27 now and it hurts like fuck when I ski but I can deadlift 500 so fuck it
May 16 2018 12:28PM
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