Finally! THE Book on Failed ACL Reconstruction

Orthopedics This Week—February 10, 2014

What major resource can surgeons avail themselves of when dealing with a failed ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) reconstruction? Until now, none. Robert G. Marx, M.D. is an orthopedic surgeon on the Sports Medicine Service at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS). He has recently written a textbook—“Revision ACL Reconstruction: Indications and Technique”—that tackles this challenging problem. Dr. Marx, also a professor of Orthopedic Surgery and a professor of Public Health, tells OTW, “I was approached by Springer to write this book after I delivered a presentation on failed ACL reconstructions; the editor indicated that there was no textbook that could serve as a reliable resource for orthopedic surgeons regarding such cases. It was an incredible learning process as it became clear that no matter how ‘expert’ one is at something, there is always more to be learned.

“By including authors from every continent we were able to gather different points of view. For example, in Japan they use a different technique—a rectangular femoral socket. Patients there are often smaller so these surgeons have more experience with small stature patients; their techniques for smaller people are unique.”

“The critical thing with revision ACL reconstruction is that each patient is often very different. Some cases can be very simple, whereas others are quite challenging because of the technical considerations (prior tunnel placement or expansion, location of prior hardware, type of hardware etc.). Because of this you must have a lot of different techniques that you are comfortable with. And you must not only have a plan, but you must be ready to alter your plan. The fact that we have so many authors from different countries is especially valuable for revision ACL reconstruction because these cases require these cases benefit from a wide variety of approaches.”

Read the full story at ryortho.com.