Should I have arthroscopic knee surgery?
Knee arthroscopy is offered for a range of reasons. It allows the surgeon to perform chondroplasty, meniscectomy, or can be used for diagnostic reasons.
The most common reason that Professor Bill Walter performs arthroscopy of the knee is to treat a tear of the meniscus. The normal knee has a medial and a lateral meniscus. These are cartilage structures between the femur and tibia that can be torn with an injury causing catching and pain in the knee.
An arthroscopy involves making 2 or 3 small incisions (10 to 15mm) at the front of the knee. Using a fiberoptic camera the damaged cartilage is removed leaving a clean stable edge. Damaged articular cartilage may also be removed and occasionally a torn meniscus can be repaired. Professor Bill Walter does not do arthroscopic ligament reconstruction surgery of the knee (ACL reconstruction).