Arthroscopy is a minimally invasive procedure, offering patients many benefits over traditional surgery. By giving doctors a clear view of the inside of the knee, arthroscopy procedure is useful for confirming the diagnosis of various imaging procedures, x-rays and MRIs for instance, as it provides your doctor with a three-dimensional, real time look at the injured area.
Knee arthroscopy offers patients many advantages over traditional surgery. The fiber-optic camera and surgical instruments are inserted into the body through several small, carefully placed incisions at the knee, so the procedure is minimally invasive, effectively decreases the amount of bleeding during surgery, has reduced risk of infection or other complications, and minimizes scarring.
Some knee conditions that can often be treated using arthroscopy include meniscal tears, ACL or PCL tears, synovitis, patellar misalignment, arthritis and more. When undergoing arthroscopy procedure, your surgeon will make a small incision near the affected area of the knee joint and insert an arthroscope – a long, flexible tube with a fiber-optic camera at its tip – into the joint. The camera displays a video feed of what is seen on a screen, and your surgeon is able to use this internal view while repairing any damage that is found.