Which are the conditions where knee arthroscopy may be necessary?
In general, knee arthroscopy is performed for diagnosing and treating a variety of knee problems. The common indications are:
1. Meniscal tears
2. ACL tears
3. PCL tears
4. Removal of loose bodies
5. Synovectomy (removal of diseased synovial tissue) in cases of:
a. Rheumatoid arthritis
b. Infections (pyogenic arthritis, tuberculous arthritis)
c. Pigmented villonodular synovitis
d. Synovial chondromatosis (multiple loose bodies)
6. Joint debridement & washout for osteoarthritis
7. Articular cartilage injuries and defects requiring:
a. Abrasion arthroplasty
b. Mosaicplasty
c. Autologous cartilage implantation (ACI)
8. Lateral retinacular release for patellar maltracking
9. Patellar clunk syndrome following total knee replacement
10. Evaluating knee joint prior to doing Unicompartmental knee replacement (UKR) or High tibial osteotomy (HTO)
11. Arthroscopic assisted fixation of tibial plateau fractures