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Young athletes who require ACL reconstruction may benefit from additional procedure

Young athletes who require ACL reconstruction may benefit from additional procedure

In the largest clinical trial of its kind, researchers at Lawson Health Research Institute have shown that performing an additional surgical procedure called lateral extra-articular tenodesis (LET) may reduce the risk of ACL re-injury in young athletes.

The ACL helps control rotation of the knee and is most commonly torn in sports involving sudden stops and changes in direction like soccer and basketball. ACL reconstruction surgery uses a graft to rebuild the torn ligament. Grafts are pieces of tissue commonly created from a part of the patient's body, such as one of the hamstring tendons or the tendon of the kneecap (patellar tendon). Unfortunately, the risk of a re-tear or graft failure in young athletes can be as high as 20 per cent.

Source: Medical Xpress

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