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The following section has been adapted from What Your Doctor May NOT Tell You About Knee Pain and Surgery, Warner Books 2002.
Because cartilage surgery is performed so frequently, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that it does represent a small miracle of technology. The procedure used to address torn cartilage is called an arthroscopy (ar-THROS-cup-ee) from the Greek ”arthro” (joint) and “scop” (to look). A slender pencil-like tube is introduced into the knee. The tube is connected to a palm-sized camera which itself is connected to a television monitor. Thus, the inside of your knee is projected onto the television screen.
You know you’re being tricked when the doctor:
- Examines your knee very briefly
- Says “according to the MRI report you have torn cartilage
- Announces that he can easily fix that for you
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Through a separate puncture hole, tiny instruments are introduced. These instruments are long slender rods at the end of which are miniaturized scissors, clippers, and shavers. They come in a multitude of shapes designed to reach the various nooks and crannies inside the knee.
Although most patients do not want to hear or see anything, it is possible for the person undergoing the procedure to observe the surgery on the same TV screen that is being watched by the surgeon.
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