Knee Arthroscopy at Mount Stuart Hospital

What is knee arthroscopy?

During arthroscopic knee surgery, your surgeon inserts a small camera, called an arthroscope, into your knee joint. The camera displays pictures on a video monitor, and your surgeon uses these images to examine and diagnose your knee condition. Once your surgeon has diagnosed the problem, they may decide to treat your knee during the same procedure by guiding miniature surgical instruments to repair or remove damaged tissue.

Knee arthroscopy is usually carried out under a general anaesthetic as a day case procedure, typically taking between thirty minutes to an hour.

Knee arthroscopy can diagnose or treat knee injuries including:

• Remove or repair torn knee meniscus (cartilage between bones in your knees)
• Wash out and remove loose fragments of knee cartilage or bone resulting from wear and tear that get caught in your knee joint. An alternative treatment to knee replacement surgery if your arthritis isn’t too severe.
• Reconstruct torn anterior or posterior cruciate ligaments
• Trim damaged articular cartilage
• Treat a displaced patella
• Remove swollen synovial tissue
• Internal fixing of knee fracture

Knee arthroscopy surgery allows your surgeon to diagnose many common knee problems and treat them at the same time, negating the need for another procedure.

Additionally, knee arthroscopy requires only a couple of small incisions rather than completely opening up your knee to perform the surgery. With the use of an arthroscope and miniature tools, your surgeon can easily perform knee surgery safely and with less complication, less pain, less joint stiffness and, often reduced recovery time compared to open surgery.

The complication rate for knee arthroscopy surgery is very low. If complications do occur, they are usually minor and treated easily.

Complications following knee arthroscopy can include: infection at your knee joint, severe knee pain and stiffness, accidental damage to the nerves around your knee joint, blood clots and accumulation of blood in your knee.

If you decide to pay for your treatment, Ramsay offer an all-inclusive Total Care package, where a single one-off payment at a pre-agreed price, delivering direct access to all the treatment you need for complete reassurance. You can also spread the cost of your treatment with finance options available. Find out more information about your knee arthroscopy cost here.

A knee arthroscopy may be covered by your medical insurance policy. We advise you to check directly with your insurance provider and get written confirmation before commencing treatment.

Knee arthroscopy surgery is a day case procedure so you should be able to go home the same day. Before you go home, one of our physiotherapists will talk you though some exercises to get your joint moving and, recommend exercises to aid healing and your recovery.

Your knee will most likely be swollen for at least a week and walking may be uncomfortable.

Your knee arthroscopy recovery time will be dependent upon your specific procedure and varies by patient. Your surgeon will discuss with you how long it's likely to take to recover and give you instructions on what activities to avoid, such as lifting and sport, until you are fully recovered.

Knee arthroscopy is keyhole knee surgery that allows your doctor to see inside your knee joint using a camera inserted through small skin incisions around your knee. It can diagnose and treat a wide range of knee injuries and problems that cause pain, swelling, stiffness, restricted movement and, impact on your everyday tasks, sleep and quality of life and, are not responding to non-surgical treatments such as physiotherapy, medication and injections.

Ramsay Health Care offers rapid and convenient access to knee arthroscopy performed by our highly experienced and renowned consultant orthopaedic surgeons in hospitals local to you. Exercise advice is provided by our physiotherapists to support your earliest recovery from knee arthroscopy.

Mount Stuart Hospital Specialists

Mr Mark Ashworth

Mr Mark Ashworth is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon in Torquay, Devon who specialises in knee replacements.
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Mr Stephen Blake

Mr Stephen Blake is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon in Torquay, Devon who specialises in hip and knee surgery.
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Mr Ben Bradley

Mr Ben Bradley is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon in Devon who specialises in hip and knee replacements.
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Mr Gordon Higgins

Mr Gordon Higgins is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon in Torquay, Devon who specialises in hip and knee surgery
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Mr Michael Hockings

Mr Michael Hockings is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon in Torquay, Devon who specialises in knee surgery
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Mr Ben Holroyd

Mr Ben Holroyd is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon in Devon who specialises in hip and knee surgery.
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Mr David Isaac

Mr David Isaac is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon in Torquay, Devon who specialises in knee surgery
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Related Treatments

Knee Replacement

Knee replacement is knee surgery to repair worn arthritic knee joints or knee injuries using an artificial knee joint to help reduce pain and restore movement in your knee.

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Partial Knee Replacement

A partial knee replacement, also known as unicompartmental knee replacement, is surgery that replaces only one damaged compartment in your knee with implants.

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ACL Reconstruction

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction is a surgical procedure designed to repair a torn or injured ACL, a crucial ligament in the knee. It involves using a graft of new tissue, typically a tendon, taken from another part of your knee to restore stability.

Find out more

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Knee Arthroscopy