The Main Application of Arthroscopy in Clinical Orthopedics Treatment

Arthroscopic technology is used for the diagnosis and treatment of intra-articular diseases and injuries. It has been widely applied in minimally invasive treatment of joint diseases such as hip, knee, elbow, wrist, and ankle. This technology does not damage the joint capsule, reducing the risk of infection and speeding up postoperative joint function recovery. Because of these advantages, arthroscopy is gradually expanding its application scope in orthopedics, and the range of diseases it can diagnose and treat keeps increasing. Arthroscopy technology mainly applies to orthopedics in the following aspects.

Arthroscopic diagnosis and treatment of knee diseases

Knee-related diseases have always been a key and difficult point in clinical treatment in orthopedics. The knee joint is the most complex and the largest joint in the human body, and it is also the most vulnerable to diseases. Currently, the treatment of knee joint diseases relies on arthroscopy scope surgery, which replaces traditional open surgeries and becomes the most common way of treating knee joint diseases.

Diagnosis and treatment of meniscus injuries

Meniscus injuries have always been the most easily occurring knee joint diseases. Patients often experience meniscus injuries due to excessive exercise or trauma during exercise. With the development and popularization of arthroscopic technology and MRI, the misdiagnosis rate of meniscus injuries has significantly decreased. Arthroscopic treatment can save the stable part of the meniscus, and remove the part that cannot be repaired, which has become the most common surgical content in arthroscopy scope treatment. Arthroscopic technology not only has a significant improvement in the treatment of meniscus injuries in young patients but also has good effects on the treatment of simple meniscus injuries in middle-aged and elderly patients, achieving similar midterm treatment effects as in young patients.

Diagnosis and treatment of cruciate ligament injuries

Anterior and posterior cruciate ligament injuries are also common sports-related injuries, mainly caused by outside forces with higher intensity, especially the posterior cruciate ligament injury. These conditions may cause knee joint weakness, instability, muscle atrophy, etc. The reconstruction technique under arthroscopy scope can avoid secondary injuries of meniscus and articular cartilage. Currently, the application of arthroscopy has become the core standard for reconstructing and examining cruciate ligament injuries. Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction under arthroscopy is also a focus of future research and development in orthopedics.

Arthroscopic diagnosis and treatment of shoulder joint diseases

With the rapid development of arthroscopic technology and MRI imaging technology, orthopedics has gained deeper understanding of and insight into the treatment of shoulder joint diseases. More and more clinical treatments and experimental studies show that a category of disease called "shoulder impingement syndrome" is actually composed of several combinations of symptoms, including long head of the biceps tendonitis, frozen shoulder, subacromial impingement syndrome, rotator cuff injuries, calcifying tendinitis in the supraspinatus tendon, etc. Currently, the arthroscope technology used in orthopedics can treat various symptoms of shoulder impingement, such as repairing rotator cuff injuries, repairing and suturing glenoid labrum injuries, and performing acromioplasty surgery in subacromial impingement syndrome under arthroscopy. Due to the anatomical and physiological differences, shoulder arthroscopy surgery is different from other conventional knee arthroscopy surgeries, but the operational methods and treatment effects of these two surgeries still have many similarities. Both can perform synovial scraping, removal of foreign bodies and loose bodies, internal fixation and suture, grinding and shaping, tissue biopsy, and diagnosis, which can help patients achieve ideal results. Arthroscopic surgery of the shoulder joint has developed rapidly in recent years and has become one of the key research fields in orthopedics.

Arthroscopic diagnosis and treatment of hip, ankle, elbow, and wrist joint diseases

Due to the rich tissue and complicated types of diseases in the hip joint, arthroscopic technology can achieve accurate diagnosis and treatment with minimal trauma, which has significant advantages compared to traditional treatments. Ankle arthroscopic technology can not only directly visualize the internal structures of the joint through small incisions but also stress test joint laxity and assess the condition of surrounding ligaments. How to treat ankle fractures with the assistance of arthroscope has become a hot topic in clinical research. Because of the unique features of the elbow joint, traditional treatment methods have high surgical risks. However, elbow arthroscopy can significantly improve the surgical situation and has become the basic surgical method for treating elbow joint diseases. The wrist joint has a complex movement function, and the joint space is small, with high requirements for arthroscopic diagnostic and treatment equipment and technology. Therefore, the application of arthroscopic technology in the treatment of wrist joint still needs continuous development. The above arthroscopic techniques started relatively late in clinical applications and still need further development. With the continuous growth of national clinical experience, arthroscopic technology will be more and more widely used in clinical treatment in orthopedics.