British surgeons perform first live hamstring transplant in Europe to fix 11-year-old's torn ligament
[Source: Daily Mail UK]
The first live hamstring transplant in Europe – in which a mother donated her tendon to repair her injured daughter’s knee – has been performed by British surgeons. The success of the operation paves the way for a new approach to treating the common problem of damaged knees.
Erin Howett, 11, injured her knee during a skiing session on a dream family holiday to Lapland in 2011.
‘At first we weren’t too worried,’ says her mother Penny, 37. ‘Erin has a high pain threshold and was happy to ski again straight away once the medics had checked her over. She was limping a bit, but not in distress.’
It was only a couple of weeks later and back at home in Basingstoke, Hampshire, that Penny asked her doctor to take a look at Erin’s knee, which was still swollen and painful.
They were immediately referred to consultant orthopaedic surgeon Adrian Wilson at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, who diagnosed her with a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) – a very common knee injury. The ligament runs diagonally from the front of the shin to the back of the thigh and helps control the knee’s rotation.
Injuring the ACL seriously affects limb stability. It is thought to happen to one in every 600 people each year.
‘An increasing number of young people are suffering this injury,’ says consultant knee surgeon and ACL specialist Paul Trikha, a colleague of Mr Wilson at Ashford and St Peter’s NHS Hospital in Surrey. ‘They are increasingly taking to contact sports or skiing, which are high-risk activities for such injuries.’
The most popular option for ACL reconstruction is using the patient’s own hamstrings, taking tendons from the back of their thighs to create a new ligament. The largest one is left behind to maintain hamstring function.
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