After suffering an anterior cruciate ligament tear while playing football, the patient underwent several unsuccessful surgeries in a number of hospitals and continued to suffer severe pain with little improvement.

After a long journey of suffering, the 37-year-old patient headed to the International Medical Center in the hope of finding relief after learning that the IMC had some of the best physicians in the Middle East.

The medical team performed the necessary tests, re-evaluated the patient's condition, and reached a diagnosis that the patient had knee instability, meniscal loss and further meniscal tear and an early stage of osteoarthritis.

The common procedure to treat this type of injury is arthroscopic surgery that removes most of the torn articular meniscal cartilage. However, with this procedure, pain returns after a while and the patient is at risk of early osteoarthritis, requiring another surgery for knee replacement.

Hence, The ideal preferred procedure for this condition is a transplant (replacement) of the meniscus using a semilunar meniscal cartilage with revision anterior cruciate ligament knee reconstruction to alleviate the pain and avoid the worsening of osteoarthritis. This procedure provided by the International Medical Center is only performed by a limited number of doctors around the world. Access to the semilunar cartilage tissue to be transplanted is also difficult.

The arthroscopic transplant surgery was successfully performed using an arthroscopy and two small incisions. The anterior cruciate ligament was reconstructed, and the meniscal cartilage was replaced. The patient was discharged from the hospital the day after the operation. His condition continues to improve, the pain he was experiencing slowly disappeared, and he is returning to his normal life. He has even resumed some gentle sports activities, and so far, has been in good health for past three to four months.

This surgery preserves the joint, helps pain and function and avoids knee replacement surgery in the future.

The team of surgeons who performed the procedure included: Dr. Fahad Attar, Consultant Orthopedic - Hip, Shoulder, Knee Arthoplasty & Sports Medicine, Dr. Hisham Zaki, Orthopedic Surgeon, Dr. Mohammed Mutawlli, Specialist Orthopedic Surgeon, with the help of a team of anesthesiologists and nurses.