Dr Aubrey Smith, Orthopedic Surgery
Shoulder Surgery, Arthroscopic and Reconstructive Surgery
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Dr Aubrey Smith, Orthopedic Surgery
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Arthroscopic Pictures What does the inside of the shoulder and knee look like? Here are some examples of pictures taken at the time of arthroscopy.
When we do arthroscopic surgery, we can look inside a joint with a very small instrument so the incision is really small. Sometimes we can do the whole operation through the arthroscope.
This is an example of the inside of the shoulder joint. These two pictures demonstrate one type of a labral tear. The labrum is a rim of cartilage that lines the socket part of the ball and socket of the shoulder joint. The "ball" sits on the socket much like a golf ball sits on a tee. In this case, the throwing athlete had symptoms of locking and catching. After the surgery, the torn piece had been removed and the patient returned to throwing in a fairly short time. The symptoms of locking and catching were cured by the all arthroscopic procedure.
This is an example of the arthroscopic views of the rotator cuff. The rotator cuff is really 4 muscles and their tendons that come together surrounding the ball of the shoulder. The job of the rotator cuff is to hold the ball on the socket. In these pictures, the view is the all arthroscopic look at the outside of the ball. In this case, the patient had a tear of the rotator cuff as is seen in the first picture. The second picture demonstrates the all arthroscopic suturing of the torn tendon. The last picture shows the tendon after repair arthroscopically. The whole process is done through the scope making it a day surgery. While not all tears can be fixed this way, many can. Patients seem to do well generally with this less invasive way of fixing the cuff. This patient has gone on to heal and has returned to powerful lifting and his full job as well as to his sport which is golf.
Knee
This is the inside of the knee. The first picture is a good example of a fairly normal really smooth surface with a normal meniscus. The meniscus is a cartilage rim that helps absorb the shock of loads on the knee. Notice the smooth white surface. This is what you want your knee to look like. The next picture is a torn meniscus. This patient complained of swelling, locking, and giving way of the knee after a softball injury. We trimmed the loose and torn part of the cartilage and the patient has returned to work and softball without any problem. The last picture is of arthritis. See the raw bone surface? Notice the lack of white shiny cartilage on the surface. This patient had severe arthritis and will soon have to have a knee replacement. If we had not trimmed the cartilage in the second picture, that knee would soon look like the knee in the third picture.
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Last modified08/23/09: |
