Did you know? 13.4% of the world’s population, or about 355 million people, currently suffer from various joint diseases! It is estimated that there are more than 100 million people suffering from arthritis in China. Known as the “number one killer of human disability”, osteoarthritis accounts for 50% of people over the age of 50, and up to 80% of people over the age of 55, with symptoms and impaired movement accounting for about 1/8 of the population. The World Health Organization has designated the first decade of the 21st century as the “Bone and Joint Decade”, aiming to draw the attention of doctors and patients for the benefit of many joint disease patients.
What is arthroscopy and arthroscopic surgery?
Minimally invasive surgery, also known as “keyhole surgery”, is one of the trends and directions in the development of surgical technology in the world today, aiming to achieve maximum results with minimal trauma. Arthroscopic technology is the application of minimally invasive surgery in the field of orthopedics, which is applied to the observation, diagnosis and treatment of intra-articular diseases, and is an advanced modern orthopedic surgical technique in line with the development trend of modern surgery, and is regarded as one of the three major advances in the field of orthopedics in the 20th century. Arthroscopy has been used in the 1970s in foreign countries, but only in the 1980s in China, it has become an indispensable branch of modern orthopedics.
Arthroscopy is a high-tech minimally invasive technology, which is only the thickness of a pencil or chopsticks, commonly used only 4 mm in diameter, a small incision of less than 1 cm on the skin, you can put the arthroscope into the joint, and then connected to a micro-camera, through the fiber optic lighting system and computer imaging system, can be clearly displayed on the fluorescent screen. The arthroscope allows for careful observation of the intra-articular situation and direct and accurate detection of the lesion. The observation of the lesion inside the joint has a magnifying effect and is therefore more accurate than visual observation after the joint has been cut open. After a lesion is detected, surgery can be performed immediately under arthroscopic surveillance. A small incision can be attached and a special micro-instrument can be inserted to perform a comprehensive examination and surgical treatment in a targeted manner.
What are the advantages of arthroscopic surgery?
1, clear observation, through the arthroscope can be in a near physiological state, dynamic observation of the lesions in the joint, certain diseases must be diagnosed under the arthroscope.
2. Fine surgery, which can preserve the physiological tissue structure intact and limit the joint trauma to a minimum by targeted surgery.
3.It is minimally invasive surgery, with small skin incision, small surgical incision, the ligaments around the joint, joint capsule and cutaneous nerve from damage; less pain – basically to achieve no pain after surgery.
4.Small skin scars, little scar irritation, beautiful.
5.Little surgical damage, less bleeding, less patient pain and fast recovery after surgery.
6.Fast recovery of joint function after surgery, early activity on the ground, usually the next day after surgery, reducing postoperative complications (joint adhesions, muscle atrophy, phlebitis, blood clots, wound infection).
Economy and cost: short hospital stay, reduced medical costs, short hospital stay, 2-3 days after surgery can get up and move around nursing costs and nursing staff, early return to work.
Third, the indications for arthroscopic surgery
1.Hip joint
Femoral head necrosis, osteoarthritis, free body removal, tumor microscopic biopsy.
2.Knee joint
Osteoarthritis, free body, meniscal injury, articular cartilage damage repair, joint adhesion release, anterior and posterior cruciate ligament injury reconstruction.
3.Ankle joint
Ankle fracture, traumatic arthritis, synovitis, free body.
4.Shoulder joint
Rotator cuff tear injury, impingement syndrome, shoulder periarthritis, calcific supraspinatus tendonitis.
5.Carpal joint
Cartilage injury, synovitis, arthroscopic transverse carpal ligament dissection for carpal tunnel syndrome.
6.Elbow joint
Free body, adhesion release, radial tuberosity osteoarthritis plication.
7.Extra-articular
N fossa cyst, gluteal muscle contracture, intra-articular fracture percutaneous internal fixation, plate removal.
Take the knee joint as an example, most knee joint diseases are suitable for arthroscopic surgery, such as unexplained joint swelling, various synovitis, traumatic arthritis or osteoarthritis, intra-articular free body, meniscal injury, cruciate ligament injury, acute joint injury, patellar subluxation, etc. Intra-articular infection can also be flushed through arthroscopic examination.
Fourth, the role of arthroscopy
1.Diagnostic role
It can directly observe synovial membrane, cartilage, meniscus and ligament, and provide intuitive information for joint disease, “putting the doctor’s eyes into the joint”, seeing is believing, and has a role that cannot be replaced by other methods.
2.Therapeutic effect
The removal and repair of diseased tissues in the joint can be performed under non-open surgical conditions at the same time, and mirror surgery procedures can treat almost all intra-articular diseases, for example, as follows
Free body removal, joint rats, stones in shoes, sand in the eyes.
Meniscus surgery: preservation as much as possible, suture repair, partial resection
Cruciate ligament reconstruction: tear down the east wall and repair the west wall
Synovectomy.
Repair of cartilage, cartilage grafting.
Helps to reset the fracture.