Knee Arthroscopy
A knee arthroscopy is often referred to as “keyhole surgery”.
Using an arthroscope and special instruments the inside of the knee is examined through two or rarely three small incisions around the knee. Arthroscopy of the knee is quite commonly performed for dealing with meniscal tears. These are often diagnosed on a MRI scan.
Meniscal tears
Some meniscal tears are amenable to repair with suture anchors. If possible, a repair is always preferred over resection of the torn meniscus. Unfortunately, the majority of meniscal tears require removal rather than repair. Not all meniscal tears require arthroscopic intervention.
Knee arthroscopy is performed with the patient asleep and most commonly, two small keyhole incisions are made to allow access of the arthroscope and instruments, that may be required. In very carefully selected patients with very early degenerative disease of the knee, arthroscopy can give long lasting relief of mechanical symptoms and delay the requirement for more extensive surgery. Knee arthroscopy is performed as a day case in the great majority of patients (i.e. the patient is discharged home on the same day as the surgery).
The image below shows this is an arthroscopic view of the inside of a knee. In this patient there is a meniscal tear.
Below shows that after careful resection of the tear, a large amount of the meniscus is still remaining. The meniscus of the knee is an essential structure and should be spared whenever possible.