AFL MEDICAL officer Dr Hugh Seward would have discouraged Warren Tredrea's ground-breaking ankle surgery if the Port Adelaide veteran was younger and had more time to resurrect his career.
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The 31-year-old, who had surgery in mid-May, should start running earlier than expected and is on track for a late-season comeback.
Similar to the LARS knee procedure undertaken by Sydney Swan Nick Malceski, Tredrea's teammate David Rodan, Carlton's Brad Fisher and Brisbane Lion Josh Drummond, a synthetic ligament was used to repair Tredrea's right ankle.
Seward said there hadn't been much research into using artificial ligaments for joints other than the knee, but praised the determination of Tredrea, who remains non-committal on his future beyond 2010.
"Warren is getting towards the end of his career and wants to make the most of the time ahead and I think it's a well considered decision he's made," Seward told afl.com.au.
"If you have a young player who's at the very start of his career, we'd prefer to use the standard, proven technique.
"The sorts of players having this repair done may well be the older player who is getting to the second half of their career and doesn't want to run the risk of a longer period out."
Port Adelaide general manager of football operations Peter Rohde expected Tredrea to play again this year, but not for at least eight weeks.
He also confirmed the club would have considered the procedure for a younger player.
"They've only really just started using the [LARS] ligament routinely for everyone with that injury," Rohde said.
"His wasn't like the knee situation where there's a choice to be made. It's just what they do now for all those lower tibia-fibula joint strains.
"The decision wasn't based on getting him back quicker. It's just the best way to do it."
The main advantage of LARS surgery is the shortened recovery period with the patient's alternative tendons - the patella or hamstring - not harvested to repair the injury.
But with the risks involved, Seward said he was more inclined to recommend synthetic ligaments to older patients.
As well as the threat of infection, recovery can be delayed by a year if the synthetic ligament breaks.
"If it fails, you're left with a 12-month period to recover from the removal of the LARS ligament and replacement with a standard tendon," Seward said.
"For that to rebuild and to have the confidence it's going to work, it probably extends it out to 12 months.
"That's the downside if it doesn't work. The risk is you'll end up taking longer than if you'd chosen the hamstring or patella tendon initially."
However, Seward believes improvements in artificial ligament technology could eventually save some players from premature retirement.
"There's a lot of interest in using synthetic ligaments to help players get a better result from any reconstructive procedure, whatever the joint, and leaving the body's other tissues that were normally harvested intact," he said.
"There's a theoretical advantage in doing it and I think we'll see a lot more research in that area.
"If it can be proved to be safe in the future, it will be used a lot more."
