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 Arthoscopic surgery ...any advice please
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bigfuzzer Member  Posts: 27 |
posted 08-31-2001 10:47 AM
  
Hi everyone,I love these boards and could use your help..I'll make this story short as possible..About 25 years ago, ( I'm 44 female) I was playing softball and injured my knee, fell to the ground, couldn't get up for 1/2 hours , swelled up bad, this happened about 3 times again over the next 10 years..then never had any trouble..At one time a doc reccomended Arthoscpoic surgery,,he said I had LOOSE BODY in there,,but I was young abd it healed up, which I thought..Well..I had a spinal fusion in Feb( am coming along good)but in the meantime, since i can't bend I have to squat and about 1 1/2 months ago, i hurt my same knee...not real bad and no sharp sudden pain..So it turns out in the MRI that I have meniscus tear and an old ACL tear FYI MRI saysINFERIOR ARTICULAR SURFACE EXTENSION TEAR, POSTERIOR HORN, MEDIAL MENISCUS..FULL THICKNESS TEAR LIKELY SUBACUTE OR CHRONIC, PROXIMAL ACL.SMALL JOINT INFUSION ( LIKE i REALLY UNDERSTAND ALOT OF THAT, BUT I GET SOME OF IT) Anyway, since I'm not into sports and my knee was weak, but no pain until the meniscus tear recently, my doc says fix the menicus tear and see if that work instead of the whole recontructive surgery which i would not use CADAVEAR since 1 in 500,000 chance od disease transmission and sometimes it hard to get...Anyone out there have arthoscopic knee surgery for meniscus tear only that can tell me anything..I that arthoscpoic on shoulder, wondering how you madeout with the knee thanks so much DEB  IP: Logged |
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jane2 Veteran  Posts: 449 |
posted 09-01-2001 03:01 PM
They did something like that with my husband, who was a jock and had an impressive list of injuries. If there was a dangerous sport he did it. Didn?t know when to quit. His knee had no cartilage, torn pcl, torn acl and torn meniscus. They tightened some stuff up. Couldn?t repair the PCL. Couldn?t replace the cartilage. He recovered fine. Surgery went well. Not much pain. Not back to sports, except biking and swimming. No more knee swelling. Will eventually have to have his knee replaced, but not for a long time. IP: Logged |
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eli_dale Senior Member Posts: 78 |
posted 09-03-2001 12:38 AM
I have had several meniscectomies (arthroscopic knee surgeries for torn cartilage, debridement etc..) WHen you tear your meniscus - it does not heal. Dr's are real quick to cut out the torn/bad/frayed stuff leaving you with a partial shock absorber. WHat they don't tell you is that it doesn't grow bac, degenerative changes will take place down the road, and osteoarthritis & knee replacement could be a real possibility. You have a few options: 1. have the cartilage repaired--meniscal sutures/arrows.. if the tear is repairable, the surgeon can try to repair--- conditions have to be just right 2. cadever meniscus transplants 3. collagen meniscus implants 4. have it removed (again--- not good long term) 5. leave as is... Do your homework, ask questions, and remember when you tear your cartilage-- you are in a no win situation - if you don't get something done... your will be bothered forever... if you do get it hacked out arthritis/knee replacements are more or less a given down the road.... check all options before going under the knife... As for me-- after several knee surgeries--- all medial meniscus gone in both knees... now kneecaps track different-- cartilage wearing away--- I had a patella tendon transfer which helped--- but it's a snow ball effect... once you start hacking cartilage out--- it's a downhill slide.... do your homework////good luck IP: Logged |
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