Arthroscopy
Arthroscopy may be a procedure for diagnosing and treating joint problems. A surgeon inserts a narrow tube attached to a fiber-optic video camera through a little incision about the dimensions of a buttonhole. The view inside your joint is transmitted to a high-definition video monitor.
Arthroscopy may be a surgery doctors use to seem at, diagnose, and treat problems inside a joint. It’s an operation and is completed on an outpatient basis, which suggests you'll head home an equivalent day. Your doctor may recommend it if you've got inflammation during a joint, have injured a joint, or have damaged a joint over time.
Benefits of arthroscopy
- Shorter Recovery Time
Due to the fact that knee arthroscopies are less invasive, recovery time is significantly reduced. This is a particularly useful benefit for professional athletes who injure their knees often and are in need of faster recovery times. There is also less scarring because of the small incisions.
- Recovery can be done at Home
Unless complications arise with the patient, patients are allowed to go home the same day after the procedure. It is advised that outpatients have someone at home to help them during the recovery process. Patients tend to be more comfortable at home and this helps them recover faster.
3 . It is Less Invasive
During knee arthroscopy, only two incisions are made – one for the arthroscope and one for the other instruments used. This means that the risk of trauma to the connective tissue is reduced and the surgical success rate becomes higher.
Disadvantages of arthroscopy
- Patient Complications
Like any other procedure, there are risks involved for the patient such as blood clots, bleeding and infection inside the knee joint, damage or injury to the nerves of the knee, blood vessels, and ligaments.
- Improper Post-Op Care
Although doctors give instructions for patients to follow at home during the recovery process, things can go wrong afterward. Since the patient won’t be at the hospital during the recovery, further damage may be caused to the knee.
It is important that the doctor only recommends an outpatient knee procedure for suitable candidates, taking pre-existing conditions of the patients into consideration. These types of procedures should be unique to each patient and can have very beneficial results in the long run, compared to having a total knee replacement.
B
- The possible complications following a knee arthroscopy include
- Nerve damage.
- Artery damage.
- Infection
- Ongoing pain in the calf and foot.