Arthroscopy

Whether you’re taking a step or raising your hand, your joints help you move freely. But living with a worn or injured joint can make an active lifestyle painful. Your healthcare provider uses arthroscopy to see, diagnose and, often treat your joint problem. Other diagnostic tests are usually done before arthroscopy. They include a complete health history and exam, and possible X-ray, CT scan, or MRI. After arthroscopy, you may be able to return to many of the activities you once enjoyed.

During arthroscopy, sterile fluid flows through one of the portals. This expands the joint, giving your surgeon the ability to see and work.

Why arthroscopy?

• The surgeon can often find and treat the problem during one procedure.

• The surgeon can often see the joint better than with open surgery.

• Arthroscopy uses smaller incisions than with open surgery. As a result, you may recover faster and have less scarring.

How arthroscopy works

To look inside your joint, your surgeon will use an arthroscope . This is a thin instrument about the size of a pencil that contains a lens and a light source. Your healthcare provider inserts the arthroscope and other special tools into the joint through tiny incisions. Using a camera, the arthroscope sends an image of your joint to a monitor. This lets your surgeon see your joint more clearly. You will still get anesthesia, either general, spinal, or local, so that you will not feel the arthroscopy at all. 

Risks of arthroscopy

As with any surgery, arthroscopy involves some risks. These are rare, but include:

• Excess bleeding

• Blood clots

• Infection

• Instrument failure in surgery

• Damage to nerves and blood vessels

• A shift to open surgery that would need a larger incision

• Reaction to the anesthesia