Orthopaedic surgeon Bashir Zikria has returned to Johns Hopkins in Washington, D.C., after three years in Doha, Qatar, where he was the chief of surgery at the Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital. Zikria treated elite athletes, including the players of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

His experience helped him develop and refine new techniques for repairing and preserving joints, which could help his patients in the United States avoid knee replacements and ACL re-tears.

Reducing Re-Tears

One technique, extra-articular augmentation of the ACL, decreases the rate of re-tear, he says, from about 12% to about 3%. This is important for both athletes and nonathletes because subsequent ACL tears can increase the likelihood of needing a knee replacement, he says.

The augmentation procedure involves rebuilding the ACL with a graft, and tightening the outside of the knee along with the ACL, to provide more support for the ligament.

The technique Zikria uses, called the Aspetar Way, offers a further refinement by attaching the ACL augmentation without anchors. “There are many different ways to repair an ACL, and for every person, it’s a little different,” he says. “What I do is more of a custom ACL reconstruction based on the individual.”

Zikria says he also relies on osteotomy, a procedure during which bones are broken and re-aligned to shift weight away from damaged joints. He recommends the procedure for people who have osteoarthritis and are younger than age 50, and therefore are not good candidates for knee replacements, he says.

Individualized Care

While in Qatar, Zikria performed hundreds of surgeries each year on elite athletes, high-level government officials and ordinary people.

Qatar hosted the 2022 World Cup. With so much money and national pride at stake, Zikria often heard from top officials who wanted to know how a player was doing and if every effort was being made to get that player back on the field.

Zikria notes that he treats all patients with the same level of attention, no matter how many fans are following their progress or how large their paychecks. When making treatment recommendations, he weighs the short-term and long-term goals, as well as the patient’s age and the extent of the injuries.

Zikria came to The Johns Hopkins Hospital as an associate professor in 2007, after obtaining his medical degree from the Drexel University College of Medicine and completing his residency at Lenox Hill Hospital. He also did a fellowship in sports medicine with the UHZ Sports Medicine Institute. From 2008 to 2019, he was a team physician for the Baltimore Orioles.

Now, he is back at Sibley Memorial Hospital, where he is director of the Johns Hopkins Sports Medicine Arthroscopy Lab.

An athlete himself who played football in high school, Zikria has had six knee surgeries for sports-related injuries, including tearing a patellar tendon while playing basketball with Johns Hopkins medical school residents.

His interest in orthopaedic surgery grew out of his own experience with surgery for a lateral ligament tear, which did not heal correctly and required a second operation. “That underscored the importance of doing it right,” he says.

To refer a patient to Zikria, call 240-762-5100. To learn more about Johns Hopkins Orthopaedics in the Greater Washington area, visit the regional website at hopkinsmedicine.org/ortho/dc.