The ACL surgery had by Malceski is rare for a simple reason, only players with a tear usually throught the middle of the ligament can have this synthetic graft if i recall correctly if both ends of the ligament are still in tact to the joint.
Usually if the ligament does not present in this way then the ligament ends must be reattatched to the joint of the knee and it is in this area that the extended layoff results with healing obviously slower and taking a lot longer as the ligament itself is grafted back as opposed to having two ends grafted in the middle with synthetic reinforcement (gortex tyupe material i think is used).
MRI of the knee will tell the tale of what surgery is beneficial, on the whole the majority of ACLs are complete graftting of ligamentus tissue back to its original origin points of the knee joint.
ACL tears that can be repaired artificially are on the whole much less common as its usually a shaearing force through the sideways movement of the knee that tears the ligament from its hub of origin, and a common reason depending on whether the knee is bent inwards or outwards that the medial ligamnet (on inside of knee) or lateral ligament on (outside) will often tear also.
