How to Use Arthroscopic Tools for Better Procedures
If you specialize in arthroscopic surgery, then you may know how to use arthroscopic tools. But are you abreast with the latest in tool making, and what tools are available in the market to meet your arthroscopic surgery challenges? Do you know how to prep your patients so that the procedures can go well?
To the uninformed, arthroscopic surgery can be a daunting term. However, all it means is that a doctor will make two principal incisions in order to treat the area of concern, which, in this case, is the joint. One small incision will serve as the entry point for a small camera, which will feed visual images of the joint to a television monitor. The orthopedic surgeon or arthroscopic surgeon watching this monitor will base his or her movements on what he or she sees.
The other incision will serve as the entry point for arthroscopic tools. Thanks to innovations in science, technology, engineering, and product ergonomics, there are now arthroscopic tools built to cater to specific arthroscopic surgery procedures. However, there are still a few basic tools that are common to arthroscopic surgery procedures, all of them with improvements that have been made to not only allow recovery to proceed faster, but for doctors to have an easier time working with them.
What are these Arthroscopic Surgery Tools, and why are they Better Now?
Having a good camera is essential to successful arthroscopic surgery. The endoscope used in this case is called arthroscope, and it contains a camera, a lens system, and a light source. The best arthroscopic surgeons are not only adept at handling instruments, but they can keep their hands steady so that the camera feed is not disrupted.
The best arthroscopic surgeons, moreover, know how to clear the operating area within the joint. Some joints of the body are especially problematic, as they can cause cameras to fog, and footage to be blurred out. Shoulder joints, in particular, have been notorious for fogging cameras. To solve this problem, medical engineers have designed better suction devices that are equipped with high grade filters. Such suction devices will not only ensure that fluids and large debris are kept out of the camera’s way, they will also ensure that the suction tubes are not clogged with debris.
To solve the problem of often poor footage, medical engineers have also developed better endoscopes, with higher resolution cameras and better light sources. In fact, systems are now being developed that will not only allow footage to be brighter and clearer, but will allow the footage to reach a system of cameras both in the hospital or clinic where the arthroscopic surgery is being performed; as well as to cameras that are hooked up to the Internet, so that people all over the world, whether they are teachers, students of medicine, or laypersons, can see the procedure as it is carried out.
Arthroscopy hand tools are much smaller and lighter than traditional operating instruments. In the past, arthroscopic probes, knives, shavers, and forceps were much heavier, and were built to cater to the needs of doctors who were used to open surgery on joints. Thanks to innovations, however, there are now specific probes, knives, shavers, and forceps that are fashioned not only to meet the orthopedic surgeon’s ergonomic needs, but to meet the individual needs of different operating procedures on various joints as well.
How Should You Get a Patient Ready for Arthroscopic Surgery?
More important than the tools for surgery are the preparations for it. If you take a complete medical history of the patient, and if you know exactly where the joint pain is, you will need only to do a few probing and diagnostic movements with the arthroscopic surgery tools. The less time you spend with the patient’s incisions open, the easier it will be for you to work, and the faster the patient can recover.
What are the methods that you should follow in preparing patients for arthroscopic surgery? When you have finished with a thorough history taking and physical examination of the problematic area, you can proceed to the following steps.
- Carry out provocative tests that will allow you to conclusively locate the pain areas. You may need to move the limb around in order to test the joints. When you can pinpoint the area of pain, then you can make more precise incisions and you will not have to grope around blindly while doing the arthroscopic procedure.
- Supplement your provocative tests with imaging of the injured area. You can ask for magnetic resonance images, x-rays, or an arthrogram, which is an x-ray procedure conducted after a contrast dye is added to the joint by injection.
- Relax your patient with a sedative right before the operation, but be sure to assess the patient’s case completely to see if he or she can have anesthesia, and to what degree.
- Inform your patient completely about possible complications after arthroscopic surgery. Although these are rare, your patient must be well informed about the risks, such as swelling, bleeding, injuries to surrounding nerves, or infections.
Learning how to use arthroscopic tools is as important as knowing when and where to use them. If you couple your common sense and people skills to your skills as an arthroscopic surgeon, you will have happier patients who will keep on coming back to you.