Arthroscopic surgery [Key hole Surgery] at our KMC Specialty hospital
Dr S Chockalingam FRCS, FRCS [Trauma and Ortho]
Joint replacements have now become the standard of care for advanced arthritis. These joint replacement surgeries for arthritis of knee, hip and shoulder have become common at our hospitals. The less known treatment method for joint pain in younger individuals will be discussed in this article.
This less known treatment method namely arthroscopic treatment for joint pain is now increasingly used in our city as in the Western world. An arthroscope is a telescope,[ type of endoscope] the size of a pen when introduced into the joint, helps us to evaluate the joint and introduce instruments to repair or remove the injured structures
Professor Kenji Takagi in Tokyo used a cystoscope back in 1919 to look inside the joint. Eugen Bircher a Swiss Politician/Army Physician is considered as the father of arthroscope where he used a thoracolaparascope to view the joint. Japanese surgeon Masaki Watanabe gets the credit for using arthroscopes for interventional procedures rather than for merely diagnosing the problems.
Advances in the fiber optics in the 1970s and 1980s have now helped to the current design of these arthroscopes which come in various small sizes for various joints. We now have this facility to treat joint problems and I have shown the use of this surgical technique in managing joint problems at KMC Speciality hospital
The following conditions are some of the patients who have been treated at KMC Speciality hospital with our state of the art instruments using this technique.
1. Diagnosis of unexplained knee pain where Tuberculous synovitis, synovial chondromatosis and other conditions and treatment of septic arthritis of all joints.
2. Meniscal tears:This is one of the commonest indication for this procedure. Even though sports injury is a common mechanism of these meniscal tears, it is fairly common in middle aged women and men in India.
3. Cruciate ligament tears. Ligament reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament done through this minimally invasive technique has perfected this reconstruction
4. Shoulder pathologies. The shoulder is only second to the knee in the numbers where this technique is being used here at our hospital. Decompression of the subacromial space and Shoulders that dislocate repeatedly are common indications
5. Ankle and other joint pathologies. So far we have treated variety of pathologies with this minimally invasive technique at KMC
Regards
Chockalingam
