Arthroscopic knee surgery is a minimally invasive procedure used to assess and treat knee injuries. It’s also referred to as “scoping the knee.” Your orthopedic surgeon may recommend arthroscopy if you’re having knee pain, swelling, stiffness, or joint mobility issues.
Keep reading to learn more about what knee arthroscopy is, when it’s recommended, and when it’s not recommended.
What Is Knee Arthroscopy?
Knee arthroscopy is a minimally invasive surgical procedure that orthopedic surgeons use to evaluate, diagnose, and sometimes treat injuries and damage within the knee joint. Here’s what to expect during an arthroscopic procedure.
- Prior to surgery, your doctor may instruct you to stop taking certain medications for a few days or weeks before the procedure. Your doctor will also give you specific instructions to follow the day of surgery — like not eating or drinking for several hours before the procedure.
- On the day of surgery, you’ll be given an anesthetic — either local (numbs the knee only), regional (numbs the entire lower body), or general (put completely to sleep).
- Your doctor will make several small incisions around the joint and insert an arthroscope — a thin, flexible surgical instrument that contains a small fiber optic camera and light. The view from inside your joint will show up on an attached monitor screen.
- Your doctor will move the arthroscope and use the camera to evaluate the inside of the joint. If the problem is treatable via arthroscopy, your surgeon will insert several small, thin surgical instruments to treat the injury or damage.
- Once the assessment or treatment is complete, your surgeon will close the incisions with stitches. Your knee will be wrapped in a bandage.
Arthroscopic surgery is a safe procedure with few associated risks. Potential complications include blood clots, a surgical site infection, bleeding inside the joint, and knee stiffness.
Knee arthroscopy is performed as an outpatient procedure and you’ll be able to return home a few hours after surgery. Because arthroscopy uses small incisions, the recovery time is shorter than it is for open knee surgery. You’ll have some knee pain and swelling, along with weight bearing restrictions, post-surgery. Most people are able to return to normal activities within a few weeks.
What Does Arthroscopic Knee Surgery Treat?
In many cases, knee arthroscopy is used strictly as a diagnostic and assessment tool. If you’re having knee pain, your doctor may scope the knee to identify and diagnose the problem. Even if your doctor has already diagnosed the issue, an arthroscopy can help him or her assess the extent of the damage and determine the next best steps.
In some cases, your surgeon can treat the issue during an arthroscopic procedure. Common injuries treated with arthroscopy include:
- Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears
- Posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) tears
- Meniscus tears
- Synovial tissue inflammation
- Articular cartilage damage
- Patella (kneecap) injuries
- Baker’s cysts
- Knee sepsis
- Loose body (bone, cartilage) removal
When Is Arthroscopy Not Effective?
Knee arthroscopy is not recommended if you have a degenerative joint condition like arthritis. Research shows that many people with osteoarthritis receive inadequate pain relief from arthroscopy, or relief that’s short-lived as the knee joint continues to degenerate. For many people with arthritis, a surgical procedure that doesn’t address joint degeneration isn’t worth the finances, recovery time, and risk of blood clots and infection that arthroscopy entails.
If you have degenerative knee arthritis, you may be a better candidate for the iO-Core™ procedure, a minimally invasive surgery that addresses the root cause of severe arthritis pain. New research shows that underlying bone damage and bone marrow lesions are a significant source of pain, loss of mobility, and cartilage degeneration in arthritis patients. Unfortunately, bone marrow lesions are alarmingly underidentified and undertreated in the clinical setting. Left untreated, bone marrow lesions can speed up the process of joint degeneration.
The iO-Core™ procedure involves decompressing damaged bone and replacing it with a healthy bone graft to promote regrowth. Next, bone marrow aspirate filled with growth factors is injected into the joint to promote revascularization and healing of damaged cartilage and bone. The surgery creates the optimal environment for healing within the joint, and has the potential to reduce pain, restore mobility, and prevent further joint damage.
Find Out If You’re a Candidate for the iO-Core™ Procedure
Many people who were told they needed a total joint replacement surgery have found long-term pain relief and greater mobility from iO-Core™ instead. Contact our team today to learn more and see if you qualify.