An 11 year old’s knee ligament is reconstructed using his dad’s hamstring tissue for the first time.

After a 2 year period of monitoring the situation, Adrian discussed the possibility of using Harri’s dad’s hamstring to reconstruct the PCL ligament in Harri’s knee. Adrian explains:

“Usually PCL injuries heal up well without surgery, and one would expect this to be even more so in a child. However, in this particular instance the lad had suffered a very nasty knee dislocation and he was left with a very unstable knee”.

PCL reconstruction is already a challenging operation on adults, however the size of the instruments involved and the complexity of the operation means it had not been carried out in such a young patient.

“When it came to operating on Harri’s thigh bone, I had to use a freehand technique rather than the normal guides that we normally for surgery, which were too big”.

Harri had to wear a knee brace for the first 2 months after surgery then was walking normally in no time at all. Harri’s mum, Suzanne Jones, explains the difference the operation has made to Harri’s life:

“It has been amazing, Harri has a new lease of life and whilst he is still unable to play contact sports, he can do everything else a boy of his age is able to do. It’s wonderful to see him so happy again.”

Adrian concludes:“I was very happy with the result and when the graft went in, the knee felt beautifully stable and I was delighted with the outcome that we achieved. Harri should have no issues with his knee going forward, but I will be taking long leg x-rays until he is fully grown and continue to monitor him”.