Knee surgery

Mick0

Anyone know the cost of cruciate ligament reconstruction? I was thinking of the Galway Clinic but don't have insurance. I already have an MRI, the diagnosis is ACL+ MCL tear with meniscus damage. So before any moderators get up in a flurry, I'm just looking for advice on costs not actual medical advice!

ergo

appromixately €5,000 I think

that is based on hearsay etc. and not concrete by any stretch, maybe ring the private clinics directly to find out

also, that's for ACL alone if they end up needing to do anything for MCL or meniscus that may increase further

could be less either but that's the ballpark figure I have in my head

drzhivago

Mick0 wrote: »

Anyone know the cost of cruciate ligament reconstruction? I was thinking of the Galway Clinic but don't have insurance. I already have an MRI, the diagnosis is ACL+ MCL tear with meniscus damage. So before any moderators get up in a flurry, I'm just looking for advice on costs not actual medical advice!

surgeon fee €1500-2500 depending on exactly what procedures
Anaesthetist fee €700-€1200

Hospital fee €2500+ depending on length of stay/type of surgery etc

Physio €500-750 post op

Not cheap

froshtyv

Galway clinic costs for me were as follows,

Surgeon 1000
Anaesthetist 1200
Bed per night worked out around 400 a day,

From my own experience i wouldnt go there again, and i have been there twice.

Mick0

froshtyv wrote: »

Galway clinic costs for me were as follows,

Surgeon 1000
Anaesthetist 1200
Bed per night worked out around 400 a day,

From my own experience i wouldnt go there again, and i have been there twice.

Thanks for that info. At this stage I think I'll go with the public system. I've had a couple of good reports from guys who've had it done with Fintan.... His name escapes me right now but he's meant to be good. In saying that I don't actually know who they will line up. Curtin is my surgeon at the mo. but I'm not sure if he does them. Thankfully my knee is actually very good and I've been very active. But, I wouldn't trust it to hold playing football or contact sport. I spent some solid time in the gym doing alot of strengthening and stabilising exercises which I plan to restart pre op.

anitack

Hey, I'm going to the Sports Surgery Clinic in Santry in Dublin for an ACL repair and it's going to be around 6 grand.

€3100 alone for the clinic, for a one night stay! €1600 or so for the surgeon and about €800 for the anesthetist. Then €180 per consultation that makes the 6 grand. pricey eh! I have no health insurance either

I am having a hard time trying to decide whether to get the repair done using the patellar tendon or hamstring. Has anyone had either of them done and how did you find it? I'm concerned mostly with healing and any associated pain post operation. I think it's unlikey I will tear it again as I won't be putting myself in such a position so I'm not really worried about which method leaves the knee more stable.

Surgeons who do the knee graft say that with modern methods it is less evasive and doesn't lead to knee pain but hamstring surgeons defend their method. Any advice GREATLY appreciated!

Mick0

anitack wrote: »

Hey, I'm going to the Sports Surgery Clinic in Santry in Dublin for an ACL repair and it's going to be around 6 grand.

€3100 alone for the clinic, for a one night stay! €1600 or so for the surgeon and about €800 for the anesthetist. Then €180 per consultation that makes the 6 grand. pricey eh! I have no health insurance either

I am having a hard time trying to decide whether to get the repair done using the patellar tendon or hamstring. Has anyone had either of them done and how did you find it? I'm concerned mostly with healing and any associated pain post operation. I think it's unlikey I will tear it again as I won't be putting myself in such a position so I'm not really worried about which method leaves the knee more stable.

Surgeons who do the knee graft say that with modern methods it is less evasive and doesn't lead to knee pain but hamstring surgeons defend their method. Any advice GREATLY appreciated!

The first question you need to ask yourself is whether you need to have surgery at all. The answer may seem obvious but if you do some research you'll find that it isn't that straight forward. Having been in the same situation, I first thought surgery was the only option. The surgeon suggested I wait and see how my knee recovered without surgery. To my surprise it mended very well. I'd completely torn my ACL and partly torn my MCL and damaged the miniscus. But, I wasn't sure that it would hold up if really tested. I was always leaning towards getting the surgery but the more I researched the subject the less certain I was. Opinions are divided on whether surgery is always the right way to go. Certainly age is a big factor in this. I was in my late 30s but was always very fit and active and never carried extra weight etc.. So for me I thought ok they'll tell the younger guy to have surgery but the older guy won't put his knee through as much stress so he'll be fine without it. But I always felt that I wasn't ready to kick back just yet so I opted to have surgery.

Now, 7 months after the initial injury (in a boxing ring) after everything had healed up, the knee felt great. No instability. But, a lingering doubt/ lack of confidence. I had patella tendon graft through public health system in Galway. They say your rehab is the most important factor in Your outcome. I paid attention and did everything by the book. 6 months on I wasn't happy. Some occasional dull pain and roughly 90% strength / functionality. Down on how it felt before surgery. One year on I started doing heavy weights which brought it on another few %. Over 4 years on now and knee still not 100 % not that you'd expect 100% but the annoying part for me is knee pain. Not severe or a lot, just a dull ache, sometimes specific to the anterior / lateral aspect. But, I know that have to continue to rehab it for the rest of my life because if I don't the knee becomes weak.

My advice is to get a second or third opinion whether to even have surgery. The other knee ligaments and surrounding muscles adapt to support the knee without the ACL.

anitack

Thanks Micko,

My injury is 18 months old at this stage. I have gone down the rehab only route and while it has worked for a while, building up my quads, hamstrings etc, my good knee is now suffering from over compensating for my injured knee. You lose 30-40% quad usage of the injured knee so my other knee has been taking the slack of that and as a result I now have CMP in my good knee where the outside quad is too tight and the knee cap is off track thus resulting in pain.

So there is rehab for that now but I am quite keen to get the surgery, have researched the pros and cons. The only thing I need to decide now whether to go hamstring or patellar tendon graft, I have heard that the patellar tendon can result in post operation knee pain alright. How long ago did you get the surgery? 7 months was it? I have read it can take up to two years for that dull ache to go.

Mick0

anitack wrote: »

Thanks Micko,

My injury is 18 months old at this stage. I have gone down the rehab only route and while it has worked for a while, building up my quads, hamstrings etc, my good knee is now suffering from over compensating for my injured knee. You lose 30-40% quad usage of the injured knee so my other knee has been taking the slack of that and as a result I now have CMP in my good knee where the outside quad is too tight and the knee cap is off track thus resulting in pain.

So there is rehab for that now but I am quite keen to get the surgery, have researched the pros and cons. The only thing I need to decide now whether to go hamstring or patellar tendon graft, I have heard that the patellar tendon can result in post operation knee pain alright. How long ago did you get the surgery? 7 months was it? I have read it can take up to two years for that dull ache to go.

I'm four years post surgery. i still have achyness but not continuously. Probably related to certain activities. But, I have full range and good strength/ stability. As I said though it's not something I can forget about. I need to work with it to keep it strong. I don't know much about the hamstring graph so I won't assume anything or compare them. But I imagine the patella graft is more invasive to the knee but that may be too simplistic a view, there are many variables. Speak to people who had it done with your surgeon, that will be your best guide.

anitack

Yeah I'm aware it will be something I'll have to work on for life, either way I'll have to keep the muscles built. But I'm ok with that. I've spoken to so many people, some surgeons simply prefer one method over the other, physios I've spoken to are divided on the issue too. A lot depends on the rehab you do afterwards of course. From what I can gather the patellar tendon is more stable but possibly more post op pain like you talk about is associated with it. Hard to decide! Thanks for your help mick.

Mick0

anitack wrote: »

Yeah I'm aware it will be something I'll have to work on for life, either way I'll have to keep the muscles built. But I'm ok with that. I've spoken to so many people, some surgeons simply prefer one method over the other, physios I've spoken to are divided on the issue too. A lot depends on the rehab you do afterwards of course. From what I can gather the patellar tendon is more stable but possibly more post op pain like you talk about is associated with it. Hard to decide! Thanks for your help mick.

No worries. Good luck!