Surgeons know a lot about anatomy and biology. They also understand
various medical procedures and how they work.
You have been hired by
a college athletic program. You will be the team physician. You will consult,
attend games and perform surgeries when needed. You decide to make education
part of your mission. You schedule a brief weekly meeting on a topic of interest.
You
notice that 10 athletes have damaged their knees in recent months. You decide
to make your first meeting about arthroscopy.
Using the information
below, prepare a brief lesson. Keep it to 500 words or less. Remember to keep
it relevant to the young athletes in your audience.
Arthroscopy
is a minimally invasive procedure. It has diagnostic as well as therapeutic
merits. It is often useful for patients whose symptoms are due to a specific
mechanical problem, such as torn cartilage.
Arthroscopy can also be
used for removal of an inflamed joint lining. This may be particularly valuable
for patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
In addition, new techniques
now allow repair of various structures, particularly in the knee and shoulder.
In some patients, cartilage may even be harvested and grown for re-implantation
later.
The arthroscope is approximately four to five mm in diameter.
It uses a fiber-optic tube and a series of lenses to produce a very high-resolution
image of the joint on a television screen.
This tube is inserted into
the joint through a small incision. A second incision allows a variety of
arthroscopic tools to be inserted.
The tools permit many different
tasks to be performed. These tasks include grasping and removing a loose body,
sewing a torn structure, or smoothing out an area of roughened cartilage.
A
third incision may be required to permit better fluid flow through the joint.
Arthroscopy
may be performed with general anesthesia (going to sleep), regional anesthesia
(a spinal or epidural block) or, in selected cases, with local anesthesia.
Most
arthroscopy is performed on an outpatient basis. The incisions are so small
that they typically require only one stitch, if any.
Dozens of well-known
professional athletes have undergone arthroscopic surgery. Two examples are
retired hockey player Bobby Orr and baseball sensation Ken Griffey Jr.
(From
Orthoweb.com, used with permission)