Milito operation a success

 
Argentine defender Gabi Milito underwent surgery on Tuesday on cruciate ligaments in his right knee, and will be sidelined for a minimum of six months.
Traumatologist Ramon Cugat took charge of the operation on the player who was injured in the Champions League second leg match at Old Trafford, against Manchester United. The operation took place at Clínica Quirón in Barcelona.

Torn ligament

Doctor Ramon Cugat explained what the process had involved, saying “we first performed diagnostic arthroscopy, from which we found the ligament was indeed torn. So we proceeded by extracting the tendon from his left knee to incorporate it into the injured knee, the right one”.

At least six weeks

Doctor Cugat also said that “normally, a cruciate ligament injury takes about six months to recover from. In this case, we were talking about a replacement cruciate ligament because it already underwent surgery seven years ago in Argentina by traumatologist Homero de Agostini (also present in today’s operation) and was replaced by tendon taken from Milito’s left knee”.

So “the six weeks may end up being as many as nine, as operating on the same knee, and taking out one plasty and replacing it with another, can lead to added complications. The player’s recovery will be seen on a day to day basis”.