Zackary Fettel is a product development manager who consults with medical device manufacturers that specialize in surgical equipment and robotics. In the article below, Zackary Fettel discusses the most common types of arthroscopic surgery being performed in the US.
A little incision can make a big difference for those suffering from joint pain.
Zackary Fettel explains that arthroscopy, considered minor and minimally invasive surgery, is used to examine and treat joint problems. It’s frequently used if one has damaged a joint over time, recently injured a joint, or is struggling with joint inflammation. It’s done on an outpatient basis.
During an arthroscopic procedure, doctors insert an arthroscope, a tiny camera, into a joint area for inspection and assistance during surgery. Zackary Fettel says an arthroscope displays images to help guide surgeons as they perform the procedure.
Doctors can perform an arthroscopy on any type of joint, but it’s often performed to address shoulder, knee, elbow, and ankle joint issues. It’s also frequently used on the hip and wrist according to Marissa Fettel, who is also a consultant in this space.
The best part according to Zackary Fettel: Recovery is typically quick, usually a period of pain medication, exercise, and icing of the joint. Compared to open surgery, arthroscopic surgery usually results in less stiffness and overall joint pain. Complications are rare but can include worsening pain or swelling, fever, and tingling or numbness.
Knee Arthroscopy
Also referred to as “scoping the knee,” Marissa Fettel says knee arthroscopy is one of the most common forms of arthroscopic surgery.
Those who have torn cartilage, particularly meniscus cartilage, can have part of the cartilage removed from the joint of the knee. The meniscus sits between the ends of the knee bone to provide support and cushioning. The meniscus can also be repaired during arthroscopy.
Zackary Fettel explains that injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, are common but painful. Except for very severe ACL tears, injuries are predominately treated through arthroscopic surgery
Other arthroscopic knee surgery procedures include treating microfractures, cartilage transfer, and lateral release, where ligaments around the kneecap are loosened to ease the pain.
Popliteal cysts, lumps that appear on the back of the knee, usually go away with treatment for inflammation or arthritis, but a tumor or a blood clot causes similar swelling, so a doctor will investigate the cause of knee pain before going forward with surgery.
Shoulder Arthroscopy
Zackary Fettel reports that common shoulder-related problems treated with arthroscopy include everything from torn rotator cuffs and damaged ligaments to the inflamed shoulder joint tissue and bicep tendon tears.
The rotator cuff is the group of tendons holding the top of the upper arm bone to the shoulder blade, and its joints hold the bones of the shoulder in place. Zackary Fettel says it’s an injury than can be debilitating because the cuff is what lets you lift your arms and reach up. Arthroscopy is also used to treat a fracture, arthritis, or a dislocated shoulder.
Hip Arthroscopy
Those suffering from hip pain and not feeling relief from nonsurgical options are often good candidates for hip arthroscopy according to Marissa Fettel. The surgery can relieve pain associated with damage to the hip joint’s soft tissues, as well as the labrum, which lines the hip’s ball-and-socket-shaped joint and repair articular cartilage.
Zackary Fettel explains that hip arthroscopy is not the same as hip arthroplasty which is hip replacement surgery.
There are many different orthopedic conditions than can lead to hip arthroscopic surgery, including femoroacetabular impingement, a bone spur that develops on the femoral head or the acetabulum, the pelvis’ concave structure.
People may also have an infection of the hip joint, fragments of loose bone that move around the hip joint, and synovitis, which causes hip tissue joint inflammation.
Wrist Arthroscopy
Zackary Fettel explains that there are just eight bones in the wrist, but they serve very important functions, including facilitating a range of motion between the hand and the forearm.
Carpal tunnel syndrome, pressure on the median nerve of the hand’s palm, can be treated by wrist arthroscopy. It also treats pain caused by bone fragments in the wrist typically caused by a wrist fracture. Torn ligaments and ganglion cysts, or noncancerous lumps that develop along the joints or tendons of hands or wrist, can also be treated through wrist arthroscopic surgery.
Zackary Fettel says exploratory arthroscopic wrist surgery can help diagnose chronic wrist pain causes. Surgery is also performed to address a triangular fibrocartilage complex tear known as a TFCC tear.
The TFCC connects the forearm bones with wrist bones, and tears are usually the result of a fall on the wrist or hand or a twisting arm injury.
Ankle Arthroscopy
The problems commonly treated by ankle arthroscopy are similar to wrist arthroscopy, including fractures, arthritis, and general ankle instability, when the ankle’s ligaments are stretched out so much that it feels like the ankle is giving out according to Zackary Fettel.
Arthroscopy may also treat anterior ankle impingement caused by soft tissue or bone in the ankle joint becoming inflamed, causing swelling and pain, limiting ankle movement and making it difficult to walk uphill or bend the ankle upward. Ankle joint infections and arthrofibrosis, scar tissue leading to a stiff ankle, may also benefit from ankle arthroscopy.
