Not looking good for Patriot's QB Tom Brady
There is no joy in 'bean' town with the reports of multiple procedures on New England Patriot's pro-bowl 'all everything' QB #12 Tom Brady. As we all know, Mr. Brady was lost for the season with a serious knee injury and on Oct. 6th underwent reconstructive (ACL and MCL) ligament surgery on his left knee. Unfortunately, that's the good news.
It appears that he has subsequently undergone 2 or maybe 3 additional procedures to try to fight an infection in his 'rebuilt' knee. This is bad...very bad. As a surgeon, this is about the worst thing that can happen since the chances of clearing the infection without removing everything that was done in the original surgery are slim and none...and 'none' is heading for the exit.
Once the infection adheres to the anchoring hardware that was used to secure the original ligament graft...game over. Everything must be removed before the infection attempts to spread to the bone and creates the sequel to this nightmare.
Likely series of events:
1. Bite the bullet and remove the reconstruction including the hardware. Simultaneously, debride the knee to get any potentially infected tissue out.
2. Treat Tom Brady with strong IV antibiotics for about 6 weeks to clear any lingering infection within the knee.
3. Scope the knee to take cultures and possibly debride the knee further.
4. Wait a few days for negative culture results to prove that the knee is 'clean'.
5. Reconstruct the knee all over again.
6. Pray like you've never prayed before that the infection doesn't come back...since there is an increased likelihood that it may.
Damn...Damn...Damn.
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