Arthoscopic Surgery

The department has the world's best arthoscope – Karl-Storz with various diagnostic and therapeutic attachments. With these diagnostic arthoscopies, joint lavage, ACL reconstructed, Meniscal injuries, recurrent shoulder dislocation, ligament injuries and other sports injuries can be treated with a small key-hole size incision. The patient returns back to his routine on the next day of surgery which is painless. The key-hole reduces the chances of infection hence antibiotics are required only for 2 days following emergency. Internal scarring is minimal, giving a better range of motion much earlier than usual.

Arthroscopy (also called arthroscopic surgery) is a minimally invasive surgical procedure in which an examination and sometimes treatment of damage of the interior of a joint is performed using an arthroscope, a type of endoscope that is inserted into the joint through a small incision. Arthroscopic procedures can be performed either to evaluate or to treat many orthopedic conditions including torn floating cartilage, torn surface cartilage, ACL reconstruction, and trimming damaged cartilage.

The advantage of arthroscopy over traditional open surgery is that the joint does not have to be opened up fully. Instead, for knee arthroscopy for example, only two small incisions are made — one for the arthroscope and one for the surgical instruments to be used in the knee cavity. This reduces recovery time and may increase the rate of surgical success due to less trauma to the connective tissue. It is especially useful for professional athletes, who frequently injure knee joints and require fast healing time. There is also less scarring, because of the smaller incisions. Irrigation fluid is used to distend the joint and make a surgical space. Sometimes this fluid leaks (extravasates) into the surrounding soft tissue, causing edema.

The surgical instruments used are smaller than traditional instruments. Surgeons view the joint area on a video monitor, and can diagnose and repair torn joint tissue, such as ligaments and menisci or cartilage.

It is technically possible to do an arthroscopic examination of almost every joint in the human body. The joints that are most commonly examined and treated by arthroscopy are the knee, shoulder, elbow, wrist, ankle, foot, and hip.

After Surgery

After having a knee arthroscopy, there will be swelling around the knee. Swelling can take anywhere from 7–15 days to completely settle. It is important to wait until there is no swelling left around the knee before doing any serious exercise or extensive walking, because the knee will not be fully stable; extensive exercise may cause pain and in some cases cause the knee to swell more.The spread of the swell might cause serious problems.

Hip Arthroscopy

Hip arthroscopy was initially used for the diagnosis of unexplained hip pain, but is now widely used in the treatment of conditions both in and outside the hip joint itself. The most common indication currently is for the treatment of femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) and its associated pathologies; however, this is by no means where it ends. Hip conditions that may be treated arthroscopically also includes labral tears, loose / foreign body removal, hip washout (for infection) or biopsy, chondral (cartilage) lesions, osteochondritis dissecans, ligamentum teres injuries (and reconstruction), Iliopsoas tendinopathy (or 'snapping psoas'), trochanteric pain syndrome, snapping iliotibial band, osteoarthritis (controversial), sciatic nerve compression (piriformis syndrome), ischiofemoral impingement and direct assessment of hip replacement.

Shoulder Arthroscopy

Arthroscopy is commonly used for treatment of various diseases of the shoulder including subacromial impingement, acromioclavicular osteoarthritis, rotator cuff tears, frozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis), chronic tendonitis, removal of loose bodies and partial tears of the long biceps tendon, SLAP lesions and shoulder instability. The most common indications include subacromial decompression, bankarts lesion repair and rotator cuff repair. All these procedures were done by opening the joint through big incisions before the advent of arthroscopy. Arthroscopic shoulder surgeries have gained momentum in the past decade. "Keyhole surgery" of the shoulder as it is popularly known has reduced inpatient time as well as rehabilitation requirements and is often a daycare procedure.

Wrist Arthroscopy

Arthroscopic view showing two of the wrist bones. Arthroscopy of the wrist is used to investigate and treat symptoms of repetitive strain injury, fractures of the wrist and torn or damaged ligaments. It can also be used to ascertain joint damage caused by wrist osteoarthritis.

Spinal arthroscopy

Many invasive spine procedures involve the removal of bone, muscle, and ligaments to access and treat problematic areas. In some cases,thoracic (mid-spine) conditions requires a surgeon to access the problem area through the rib cage, dramatically lengthening recovery time.

Arthroscopic (also endoscopic) spinal procedures allow a surgeon to access and treat a variety of spinal conditions with minimal damage to surrounding tissues. Recovery times are greatly reduced due to the relatively small size of incision(s) required, and many patients are treated on an outpatient basis. Recovery rates and times vary according to condition severity and the patient's overall health. Arthroscopic procedures treat

Spinal Disc Herniation and Degenerative Discs
Spinal Deformity
Tumors
General Spine Trauma

Temporomandibular Joint Arthroscopy

Arthroscopy of the temporomandibular joint is sometimes used as either a diagnostic procedure for symptoms and signs related to these joints, or as a therapeutic measure in conditions like temporomandibular joint dysfunction. TMJ arthroscopy can be a purely diagnostic procedure,[19] or it can its own beneficial effects which may result from washing out of the joint during the procedure, thought to remove debris and inflammatory mediators, and may enable a displaced disc to return to its correct position. Arthroscopy is also used to visualize the inside of the joint during certain surgical procedures involving the articular disc or the articular surfaces, similar to laparoscopy. Examples include release of adhesions (e.g. by blunt dissection or with a laser) or release of the disc. Biopsies or disc reduction can also be carried out during arthroscopy. It is carried out under general anesthetic.