Saturday, August 18, 2012

Effects of Arthroscopy Surgery

Arthroscopy surgery is a commonly performed surgery that helps to treat knee problems. The main difference from normal open surgery is that small incisions are made to allow a small camera and surgical devices to be placed at the knee joint. Since only small incisions are made, the recovery time will be shorter and there will be less potential complications as compared to open surgery. However as with all surgery, there are some effects after the surgery that are due to the surgery itself.
Decreased range of motion
After surgery, some patients may experience a decreased range of motion for their knee. This decrease in range of motion can be attributed to both the injury itself as well as the trauma during the surgery. Over time and physical therapy, the full range of motion can be obtained. However in severe and rare cases, patients may experienced stiffness in their knee for the rest of their lives.
Blood clots
There is always a possibility that blood clots will form at the surgical site after surgery. This is due to the nature of the anaesthesia, causing the surgical area to be numb and devoid of blood. This can result in blood pooling in the bottom half of the body and result in blood clots after the surgery.
Infection
Although all the surgical instruments are sterile, there is still a low risk of infection in patients due to different reasons such as poor surgical techniques and inadequate sterilisation of medical personnel. Some pre-existing conditions of the patients can also increase the risk of infection such as diabetes. Infection can cause serious problems in patients and patients will need to consume antibiotics orally to be cured.
Further injuries due to surgery
The entire surgery will be carried out in a careful and meticulous way. However, since arthroscopy surgery involves the use of surgical instruments passing through small incisions in the knee, some further damages or injuries to the knee could happen when trying to pass the instruments through. In unfortunate scenarios, the surrounding tissues and nerves could also be accidentally injured. However, this is a very rare thing to happen.
Hemarthrosis
Hemarthrosis is a rare effect of arthroscopy surgery. It is a collection of blood at the surgical site which can cause pain if there is a significant amount of blood. It will also lead to inflammation and infection.
Above are some of the effects of arthroscopy surgery. Overall, it is a rather safe surgical method but it depends on the quality of the surgeon you choose as most of it is due to poor surgical techniques.

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