Primer on Knee Arthroscopy

The most common surgical procedure in Orthopedic Surgery is arthroscopy of the knee. The operation is performed at a hospital or outpatient surgical center. The patient is usually administered a general anesthetic. The procedure usually takes 30-45 minutes.Patients are on crutches for a day or day, take oral pain medications for less than a week, return to desk work in 2-4 days, and are usually fully recovered in 2-4 weeks (for simple arthroscopic procedures such as menisectomy, chondroplasty, loose body removal and lateral release).

Arthroscopy outcomes vary, but can be predicted based on age and diagnosis. As a rule, if the patient is younger than 55 with only one problem (only a torn meniscus, only a loose body, only a small area of joint surface damage) tend to have a higher rate of successful surgical outcomes. Patients over 55 with more than one disease process (most common is torn meniscus with chondral damage – also know as arthritis) have unpredictable outcomes after knee arthroscopy [improved knee outcome in 60% range for these multiple disease process knees].

The best surgical outcomes are after Arthroscopic Medial Menisectomy, Arthroscopic Lateral Meniscal repair and Arthroscopic Loose Body removal. The least predictable surgical outcomes are with Arthroscopic Chondroplasty for arthritis and Arthroscopic Lateral Retinacular Release for patellar tracking problems.

A more detailed report is found on the Knee Arthroscopy page on the web site of Doctor Tarlow.