Equipment For OPERATIVE Arthroscopy

The previous section details the equipment required for diagnostic arthroscopy. Over and above the equipment mentioned in previous chapter, surgeons use a special instrument called Probe that acts like his/her finger. Surgeons use this probe to feel the structures as many a times the defects on soft tissue are not visible and have to be ‘probed’. Probe is a metallic rod-like structure that enters through the portal and can be moved around in the joint without causing any damage to the soft tissue present inside. Thus, obviously, a probe is blunt at its tip. Also, probes come with hooked tips to facilitate probing in and around menisci.

While these equipment suffice for diagnosing the disorders or diseases in the knee of the patient, the surgeon is at a loss when he decides to treat these disorders. To treat the disorders, a surgeon requires surgical instruments that can enter the knee through tiny portals made for diagnostic arthroscopy and yet perform all the procedures that the surgeon would in open surgeries. Modern technology has made available instruments that range from simple mechanic ones to complex electric gizmos that serve nearly all the purposes of knee surgeries. There are simple scissors, punches and graspers and there are shaver systems that use motors to cut soft tissue or even abrade hard bone. While going through such surgical instruments, we will first cover manual instruments and then move onto motorised systems and finally joint specific products that are manual but are used in treatment of specific joints only.