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Arthroscopic surgery
Minimally Invasive Arthroscopic Surgery for Joint Injuries
Why Is Arthroscopic Surgery Necessary?
There are many joint conditions which need surgery. Injuries like ligament tears, cartilage injuries, meniscus tears, small bony joint fractures and pathologies like chronic synovitis, plica syndromes, ligament releases for instability, benign tumors and inflammatory arthritis and loose body extraction are best managed arthroscopically.
How Is Arthroscopic Surgery Performed ?
Arthroscopic surgery is performed under regional anesthesia as a day care procedure. The joint to be arthroscoped is cleaned and prepped. Small button-hole like skin incision is made on the joint surface and the 4 mm arthroscope is introduced into the joint. The joint is insufflated with normal saline fluid and small hand instruments are passed through another incision. The camera in the arthroscope projects the joint images and video on a screen. The diagnostic procedure is carried out first followed by the definitive therapeutic surgical procedure. Once the surgery is concluded, skin wounds are closed using one or two stitches and compression dressing is applied. Patient usually starts weight bearing and walking on the leg using crutches by evening. Stitches are removed in 10 days after the surgery. Patients are usually put on rehabilitation exercises for few months.
Benefits of Arthroscopic Surgery
Most surgeries which were earlier done using large incisions as an open procedure are fortunately being done arthroscopically now. The large incisions would cause more muscle damage, more bleeding, increase operating time, anesthesia time, and hospital cost, and subsequently resulted in more joint stiffness, ugly scarring and arthritis. Technological advances in implants and devices have paved the way for arthroscopic surgeries which avoids all these complications. Therefore, arthroscopic surgery is faster, safer and has less scarring, it lowers operating time and anesthesia requirement, resulting in early discharge, less hospitalization and lower cost of treatment.
Conditions Treated with Arthroscopy
Arthroscopy is a surgical treatment that is used after confirming a diagnosis made based on physical examination, medical history, and imaging tests, such as X-rays, CT-scan and MRI.
Here are the common medical conditions arthroscopy can treat:
- ● Wrist : TFCC tears, fractures.
- ● Shoulder : Recurrent dislocations, impingement, and rotator cuff tendon tears.
- ● Hip : Impingement and labral tears.
- ● Synovitis : Inflammation of the joint lining.
- ● Knee : Chondromalacia, Meniscus tears, ACL, MCL, LCL, and PCL tears.
- ● Synovitis : Inflammation of the joint lining.
Removal of loose bodies of bone or cartilage in the shoulder, knee, elbow, hip, ankle, or wrist.
Is Arthroscopy a Pain-Free Procedure?
Arthroscopy or arthroscopic surgery is performed under general or local anesthesia. It uses a small 4mm pen-like camera (arthroscope) attached to a light source. During the procedure, a small incision is created close to the affected joint, and the arthroscope is passed through the route to collect images of the affected areas inside, which is displayed on a screen outside. It helps the surgeon to plan the treatment. Some more small incisions are made to insert surgical equipment. Using the examining probe and medical instrument, repair or removal of the damaged part of the joint is carried out.
Post-surgery, a sterile dressing covers the wound (as the incisions are very small in size).
After arthroscopic surgery
Your doctor will recommend some treatments and therapies to practice after the surgical procedure for ensuring complete recovery, these are :
- ● Cold therapy to minimize pain and swelling.
- ● Pain relief medications to control surgery discomforts.
- ● Physical therapy for faster and smoother healing.
Note: It takes around 1-2 months to recover from arthroscopic surgery.
Associated risks :
Though not always, you may face some complications post-surgery, like :
- ● Blood clot formation.
- ● Infection.
- ● Damage to the surrounding nerves and blood vessels.
- ● Tingling or numbness in the operated area.
When looking forward to undergoing arthroscopy for your damaged knees, hip, elbow, shoulders, or ankles, reach out to us for the best treatment process. Book an appointment today With Dr. Ajay Singh Thakur.
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