Arthroscopy is a minimally invasive surgical procedure that helps visualize, diagnose and treat joint problems.
Human body has several important joints that may suffer from injuries or damage over time. Mostly, a few tests help doctors determine the exact cause of the problem and treat it through medication.
Arthroscopy is a minimally invasive surgical procedure that helps visualize, diagnose and treat joint problems.
The process involves the use of a pencil sized tool that holds a micro camera and lighting system. The tool is inserted in a button hole like incision at the joint area that the surgeon makes and allows the surgeon and other doctors to visualize the internal structure of the joint area on a large screen, wherein they can understand and make out the flaws and injuries that need to be set right.
An injury in joints can be treated through medication. However, in some cases minor surgery is required. In case of a minor surgery, the appropriate tool is inserted and the minor correction is done. This could include trimming of a torn cartilage or addition of surgical cement in a replaced knee joint.
This process is highly important in arthritis diagnosis and treatment. Open surgeries like knee replacement of an osteoarthritis knee can be opted for on a later date after discussion of findings of the arthroscopy. Arthroscopy is also widely used in back pain treatment, although the technique of combining arthroscopy with open surgery is not very well defined.
Arthroscopy is prescribed whenever there is a requirement to confirm any kind of medical doubts generated during previous diagnostic tests like MRI scans, CT scans, X-ray scans and physical examinations, which have indicated towards a certain problem in a particular joint area.
Usually, undertaken as the final diagnostic step, arthroscopy is known to be more accurate than open surgery or X-rays as the process allows surgeons to visualize internal details of the joint on a magnified screen. Bones, cartilages, muscles, tendons and ligaments experience injury and damage during various diseases and also during accidents. Following are the main conditions that make orthopedics prescribe arthroscopy:
Inflammation at the joint area is often seen in diseased conditions wherein the lining in the knee, wrist, shoulder and ankle suffers from synovitis. A complete diagnosis through arthroscopy is required to finally determine the process.
Joints often suffer acute or chronic injuries which could be in the shoulder, knee, wrist or elbow region. The most common form of injury is the occurrence of loose bodies of cartilage and bones that happen due to partial fracture suffered in minor accidents.
Other important injuries may include tendon tear (rotator cuff), impingement syndrome ad recurring dislocations in the shoulder joint, cartilage tears (meniscus), chondromalacia (cartilage cushion wearing), and ligament tears (often with instability in the knee joints, carpal tunnel syndrome in wrists, and other ligament or tendon injuries in joints.
Problems related to arthritis like cartilage wearing and inflammation are also treated using arthroscopy. The process is often used over multiple times to ensure proper arthritis treatment.
Arthroscopy is also undertaken along with other important surgeries which include rotator cuff surgery, repair and resection of torn cartilage from knee or shoulder, carpal tunnel removal, torn ligament repairs, ligament repair and reconstruction, and removal of loose bones and cartilage in the joint area.
Please refer to during/post procedure.
Every procedure has some risks or the other. Some of the common risks of this process are as follows:
Although designed to detect and rectify injury, the process of arthroscopy may lead to accidental injury to nerves and blood vessels surrounding the joint, leading to unwanted bleeding and numbness. This condition however, occurs rarely. It is important to note that bleeding at the test site can cause obstruction in visualizing the interior details of the joint and therefore, impede with the process making it longer than usual. The skill of the surgeon is to be highly reliable in this regard.
There are minimal chances of infection in arthroscopy as the incision is small and the tools used are highly sterilized. However, accidents like breakage of tools (reported in only one percent of these surgeries) may require creating a larger incision to retrieve external elements from within the body and this might lead to an infection.
Reported rarely, blood clots in the vessels in and around the joint may occur when obstructive flow happens during the process of arthroscopy. This is a minor risk and can be treated with suitable medication when detected. However, if the clot goes undetected, it may lead to pain and swelling at a later stage.
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