Arthroscopic knee surgery involves placing a small camera and instruments within the knee to best visualize the structures and treat them. While making an incision to open up the knee may be required for some more complex knee conditions, arthroscopic surgery to treat a large number of knee conditions is possible. In the majority of patients, two small incisions are placed along the inside and outside of the patellar tendon through which a camera is placed in one portal and instruments are placed in the other scope portal to treat these conditions.
The most common conditions for which we perform arthroscopic surgery are for mild damage to the cartilage surfaces, where the surfaces are smoothed down (chondroplasty), or determining meniscal tears which cannot be repaired (partial meniscectomies), and for removing scar tissue and bone spurs from the knee (lysis of adhesions and removal of osteophytes). In these circumstances, the camera is inserted on one side of the patellar tendon, while the instruments are placed through a small incision on the other side and used to smooth off cartilage surfaces, remove bone spurs, and to trim down meniscal flaps in areas which cannot be repaired.
Almost all simple arthroscopic surgery can be performed as an outpatient. In the majority of circumstances, we encourage full patient motion of their knee and weightbearing. One can anticipate being on crutches until walking without a limp is possible, which can occur sometimes directly after surgery. We do encourage a visit to physical therapy to work on restoration of normal muscle tone, to decrease swelling of the knee, and to make sure that one regains full motion as soon as possible.
