It is a surgical technique that consists of introducing an optic with a camera that allows us to see the joint inside, viewing the images on a monitor.
What is the procedure?
Under anesthesia, usually epidural, two small incisions are made, one to introduce the optics and the other to handle the surgical instruments. It is usually performed with ischemia, in which a pressure cuff is placed and the blood is “drawn” from the leg to be operated on in order to subsequently inflate the cuff and prevent bleeding during surgery.
What are the risks involved?
The risks are those inherent to all surgery: infection, thrombosis, post-surgical bleeding and hemarthrosis (blood inside the joint), which sometimes recurs.
It can also occur:
- Non-bloody joint effusion due to synovial irritation (synovitis).
- Quadricipital muscle atrophy.
- Post-surgical bone edema.
- Chondral lesions due to technique defect.
- Stiffness or limitation of joint mobility with delays in the start of rehabilitation.
What guidelines should we follow after surgery?
It depends a lot on the type of surgery that the specialist in Traumatology has performed, if it is only meniscal injury, the type of injury, if in the surgery ligament reconstruction has been performed and the ligament reconstructed, if there are osteochondral lesions (of the cartilage) and the area of the injury, all these factors must be taken into account.
In any case, in the most common surgeries, the meniscal, recovery is not more than 4-6 weeks, allowing immediate support and recovering normal life in this time.