Artificial Ligament System

The Arthrex Tightrope CCL repair system is a new and highly effective approach to correcting cranial cruciate ligament injuries in dogs. The tightrope procedure is becoming popular with veterinary surgeons in general practice as well as veterinary specialists as a first choice for treating cranial cruciate ligament deficiency in dogs of all sizes.

Cranial Cruciate Ligament injuries are the most common cause of serious lameness in dogs. The cranial cruciate ligament is a small but essential ligament located inside the stifle (knee) joint. This is equivalent to the human ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) which is commonly torn by professional athletes.

The Ligament Augmentation and Reconstruction System or Ligament Advanced Reinforcement System (LARS) is an artificial ligament used as a synthetic graft for ACL and PCL reconstructions as well as knee extensor, ankle ligament, and shoulder and hip tendon reconstructions .

In ACL injuries, the LARS ligament can only be used to bind the stumps of the ruptured ACL together, therefore if there are no tissue remnants at one or both of the ligament sites, the LARS ligament can only be used as a scaffold to augment an autograft or allograft reconstruction. However, by making use of the remaining tissue, the LARS ligament is able to promote a faster healing process and earlier restoration of proprioception as well as encourage the ingrowth of native tissue into the synthetic ligament.

Advantages of Ligament Advanced Reinforcement System

• No impaired function or morbidity of the donor site used in autografts

• Shorter return to function

• Mimics natural ACL structure and orientation

• Reduces shearing forces on the implant

• Porosity encourages tissue ingrowth

• Low cases of synovitis reported