ARTHROSCOPY

In General – Arthroscopy is the art of performing surgery in joints with the use of a small fiberoptic telescope placed into the joint through small, quarter- inch incisions. Instruments are also passed through these incisions to allow the surgeon to work inside the knee and perform fine manipulation of structures in the knee. The surgeon (and sometimes the patient) watch the procedure on a television screen. The use of arthroscopy has expanded significantly in the last 10 to 15 years. Currently, we are able to perform a wide variety of surgical procedures in both athletes and non-athletes through the "scope". The advantages of arthroscopic surgery include the small incisions, decreased postoperative pain, and, in some cases, a superior result of that obtained through a larger "open" incision.

Some procedures in the knee that are performed arthroscopically include:

• removal of cartilage tears
• ligament reconstruction, such as the ACL and PCL
• removal of loose bodies in the knee
• excision of some forms of arthritis
• treatment of infections
• diagnosis of obscure problems of the knee

I Have Heard About This New Procedure Where Cartilage Is Injected Into The Knee To Cure Arthritis. Is That For Me? – There are some very exciting new procedures attempting to regenerate cartilage on the surface of the knee in patients with arthritis. However, these procedures are currently only used for very small, localized cartilage defects of the knee in young patients. In patients with generalized wear and tear arthritis of the knee, these procedures do not work effectively and should not be performed using current technology. However, in the future, such a procedure may well be possible.