Arthroscopy

Arthroscopy



Description


An arthroscope is an instrument that allows your physician to look directly into a joint that is bothering you. It is about the size of a pencil, although even smaller ones are made to look into smaller joints. The arthroscope is attached to a video camera, which your physician can put inside your joint and observe those structures on a television monitor.



Indications


Arthroscopy was initially used to help diagnose problems of the knee. It showed physicians things never seen before and has proven to be an excellent diagnostic tool. Technology has progressed to allow physicians to look into the knee, shoulder, ankle, elbow, hip, wrist, hand, and even the big toe, and examination of these joints is being performed more and more frequently. The arthroscope is also being used in some situations to look within tendon sheaths, although this is not common practice.


Technology has also progressed sufficiently to allow surgeons to surgically treat the problems seen with the arthroscope. Specially designed surgical instruments are used to remove, repair, or reconstruct (replace) damaged tissue. Techniques include trimming tissue, removing loose bodies (fragments of cartilage or bone) within joints, suctioning debris, obtaining tissue for biopsy, smoothing rough surfaces, removing inflamed tissue, shrinking tissue, and sewing (suturing), tacking, and stapling cartilage and ligaments. How much can be done within a given joint is dependent on the technology and instrumentation, which is still evolving, along with the surgeon’s skill, size and shape of the joint, and our understanding of the body and joints.


The main benefits of arthroscopy are that it allows the surgeon to reach a more accurate diagnosis to prescribe appropriate treatment and that it lets the surgeon perform surgical procedures, usually through small incisions that heal quickly and cause less pain and trauma to the tissues, allowing for better and quicker healing of many problems. Further, most surgeries performed arthroscopically are done on an outpatient basis; you go home the same day, because less trauma is caused using smaller incisions. Although some surgeries may require hospital admission, regardless of whether surgery is performed arthroscopically, full recovery requires a period of healing and rehabilitation.


Diagnostic arthroscopy is a valuable tool, because radiographs do not show soft tissue well. The need for diagnostic arthroscopy has lessened with the development of MRI, but occasionally arthroscopy is still needed to make a diagnosis. The arthroscope allows direct visualization of the soft tissues, cartilage, and bone in living color and in motion.


After diagnostic arthroscopy proved so valuable, surgical arthroscopy was the next logical step, but it had to be performed with open surgery that caused so much pain and discomfort. In just a few years, technology has progressed such that physicians are now doing many of the same procedures arthroscopically with smaller incisions. Still, removal of tissue may disturb other tissues and cause bleeding, swelling, pain, and the need for longer healing time and rehabilitation than after diagnostic arthroscopy alone.

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Jul 18, 2016 | Posted by in SPORT MEDICINE | Comments Off on Arthroscopy

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