a procedureAnterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

also: ACL reconstruction · ACLR · knee ligament reconstruction

Everyone says ACL. Surgeons add the graft — hamstring, patellar tendon, quadriceps — because that is the decision the operation turns on. Package pages say knee ligament surgery and bundle the meniscus in with it.

The torn cruciate ligament is replaced with a tendon graft threaded through tunnels drilled in the femur and the tibia and fixed at both ends. It is done arthroscopically, often with a meniscal repair in the same anaesthetic, and it is the operation of young sport rather than old arthritis. The rehabilitation, not the surgery, is the long part.

How long it takes

The numbers behind this

	Days
In hospital	2.0
Before a flight	10
Back to ordinary use	—

Root. cruciate: Latin cruciatus, from crux, a cross — the two ligaments cross inside the knee. Anterior is Latin for the one in front. Graft comes through French greffe from Greek graphion, a stylus, for the shape of the shoot a gardener slips under bark.
Reconstruction, not repair: the torn ligament is replaced with tendon, from the patient's own knee, from the other leg, or from a donor. Which graft a price covers is rarely on the price page. Trade practice

The story Cited

The ACL is the youngest patient on this site's price table, and it changes what travelling costs. A knee replacement patient is leaving a queue; an ACL patient is leaving a season, and the calculation is weeks rather than pain.

The published prices come in the usual four shapes. Bumrungrad in Bangkok packages arthroscopic knee ligament surgery — its page names ACL and PCL and says meniscus work is included — at 279,000 baht with two nights, marked down 10% from 310,000 under a campaign. Practice Plus Group in England lists ACL reconstruction at £7,399, with theatre, anaesthetic, any overnight stay, physiotherapy and post-operative appointments inside the figure. Nordorthopaedics in Kaunas advertises it "from 2.500 € / 2.085 £" and states no inclusions at all. Australia's schedule sets item 49542 at $1,577.30 as at 1 July 2026, and the item's own wording folds in graft harvest, donor site repair, meniscal repair, collateral ligament repair and any other associated intra-articular surgery — five things for one fee.

Inference — the English price is the only one of the four that names physiotherapy. On an operation where the graft is sound at six weeks and the knee is not trusted for nine months, the physiotherapy line is the one worth reading first, and three of the four price pages are silent about it.

How it works Trade practice

General anaesthesia, day case or one to two nights. The surgeon harvests the graft, drills the tunnels through the tibia and femur, pulls the graft through, and fixes it with screws, buttons or staples. Weight-bearing starts within days; the rehabilitation programme runs months and is supervised. Bumrungrad's ligament package books two nights; the same hospital prices a heavier multi-ligament package — PCL with posterolateral corner — at 299,400 baht.

Today Cited

As of 16 September 2026 the ACL prices on this site run from an advertised Lithuanian floor of 2,500 euro to £7,399 in England, with Bangkok at 279,000 baht for two nights and the Australian schedule fee at $1,577.30 for the surgeon's service alone.

Notes

This page describes an operation and the prices published for it, and gives no clinical guidance.

What it costs where anyone publishes a price

a provider's package pricea state tariff or what a payer refundsa list price, an estimate or an advertised rangelogarithmic scale, US$

4 published prices for this procedure, across 4 countries.

The 4 prices behind this chart

Dollar figures are the published price put through one dated rate table; the published currency and date are in the next columns.

Country	Kind	US$	As published	Dated	Source
Australia	tariff	1,124	1,577 AUD	2026-07-01	page
Lithuania	quoted-range	2,884	2,500 EUR	2026-09-16	page
Thailand	package	8,380	279,000 THB	2026-09-16	page
United Kingdom	list	9,971	7,399 GBP	2026-09-16	page

Every price this directory has read, for every procedure, sits together on the prices page.

Published prices Cited

Each is a number read off a page on the date named, in the currency the provider bills in. Dollars are that number through one dated rate table.

1,577 AUD ≈ US$1,124

tariff · Australia · Australia · for Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

Includes.

the medical service described in item 49542: reconstruction of anterior or posterior cruciate ligament of knee, by open or arthroscopic means, including graft harvest, donor site repair, meniscal repair, collateral ligament repair, extra-articular tenodesis and any other associated intra-articular surgery if performed

Excludes.

hospital accommodation and theatre
fixation devices
the anaesthetist's own items
physiotherapy
any amount charged above the schedule fee

Published price dated 2026-07-01 · dollars at the rate of Wed, 16 Sep 2026 · the page it was read from · Medicare Benefits Schedule item 49542, fee last updated 1 July 2026; 75% benefit $1,183.00. The same fee as a total hip replacement under item 49318, which is what a fee schedule looks like when it prices work rather than joints.

2,500 EUR ≈ US$2,884

quoted-range · Kaunas · Lithuania · for Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

Published price dated 2026-09-16 · dollars at the rate of Wed, 16 Sep 2026 · the page it was read from · advertised as "from 2.500 € / 2.085 £" with no inclusion list on the page.

279,000 THB ≈ US$8,380

package · Bumrungrad International Hospital · for Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

Includes.

arthroscopic knee ligament based surgery (ie. ACL, PCL)
meniscus work
2 nights of hospital stay

Published price dated 2026-09-16 · dollars at the rate of Wed, 16 Sep 2026 · the page it was read from · listed at 279,000 THB against 310,000 THB under a campaign the page labels "Special Campaign Receive a 10% Discount". The package list page names the nights and the inclusion of meniscus work; the per-package exclusion list sits on the package's own detail page, which was not read for this record. A heavier multi-ligament package on the same page is 299,400 THB.

7,399 GBP ≈ US$9,971

list · England · United Kingdom · for Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

Includes.

pre-operative nurse review
prescriptions, dressings and equipment
anaesthetic
any overnight stay required
physiotherapy
pathology and histology needed whilst admitted
any post-operative appointments required
a named knee consultant from start to finish

Excludes.

the initial consultation, listed separately at £145, which the page says includes x-ray, bloods and swabs

Published price dated 2026-09-16 · dollars at the rate of Wed, 16 Sep 2026 · the page it was read from · the group's published self-pay price, and the only one of the four read for this record that names physiotherapy inside the figure.

The particulars

family	orthopaedic
setting	inpatient
anaesthesia	general
region	Everywhere
stay days	2
days before flying	10
about those numbers	Two nights is the stay named on Bumrungrad's ligament package listing. No page read for this record publishes a return-to-sport or recovery span, so recovery_weeks stays empty even though rehabilitation is the long half of this operation. The ten days before flying is the CDC's guidance for chest or abdominal surgery, applied by analogy for the clot risk of lower-limb surgery. (2026-09-16) · source
links	MBS item 49542 · Practice Plus Group knee prices
confidence	high · updated 2026-09-16

Not to be confused with

Knee arthroscopy — Both are keyhole knee operations; one replaces a ligament with a graft, the other trims or repairs cartilage, and the price gap between them is threefold.

What it connects to

a procedureKnee arthroscopyThe smaller operation done through the same portals, and often in the same anaesthetic.and of this page it says: The bigger operation through the same portals, and three times the price.a procedureTotal knee replacementThe other knee on the price table, thirty years further on.a hospitalBumrungrad International HospitalPackages this operation with meniscus work and two nights.a countryThailandWhere the Bangkok ligament package on this page is sold.a countryUnited KingdomWhere the £7,399 self-pay price on this page is sold, physiotherapy inside it.a countryLithuaniaWhere the advertised floor price on this page comes from.a countryAustraliaWhose schedule pays the same fee for this as for a hip replacement.a riskThe follow-up gapWho supervises nine months of rehabilitation after a two-night admission abroad.a stepAftercare at homeThe step this operation lives or dies by, and which most price pages leave out.a wordPackage priceThe form the Bangkok price takes, meniscus work folded in.

Sources

Sports Medicine & Joint Center — package list — Bumrungrad International Hospital · link (read 2026-09-16)
Private knee surgery and treatment — self-pay price list — Practice Plus Group · link (read 2026-09-16)
Orthopaedic Surgery Prices — Nordorthopaedics Clinic, Kaunas · link (read 2026-09-16)
MBS item 49542 — reconstruction of anterior or posterior cruciate ligament of knee — Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing · link (read 2026-09-16)
Medical Tourism — CDC Yellow Book: Health Information for International Travel — US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · link (read 2026-09-16)

Where it came from: Cited a source named here · Harvested pulled from an open dataset · Trade practice how the trade works, hedged · Inference this project's own reasoning · Field somebody stood there. This record as JSON.

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