Knee Arthroscopy at Rivers 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.

Rivers Hospital Specialists

Mr Charles H Aldam

Mr Aldam is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon in Hertfordshire specialising in joint replacements, revision hip and knee surgery, arthroscopy, back problems and sciatica
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Mr Paul Allen

Mr Paul Allen is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire who specialises in knee replacements.
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Mr David George

Mr David George is a Consultant Orthopaedic surgeon with a special interest in hip and knee surgery.
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Mr Rashid Khan

Mr Rashid Khan is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon specialising in hip replacements and all knee disorders including knee replacements, trauma, sports injuries and anterior cruciate ligament ruptures.
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Mr Dennis Kosuge

Mr Kosuge is a Consultant Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgeon in Hertfordshire, with a subspecialist interest in hip and knee surgery.
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Mr Satish Kutty

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Mr Kutty, specialises in hip and knee disorders including trauma, sports injuries of the hip, hip and knee replacements in young adults.
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Mr Jeh Mahaluxmivala (Mr Jeh Maha)

Mr Jeh Mahaluxmivala (pronounced ma-ha-lux-mi-vala) known as Mr Jeh, is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon in Sawbridgeworth with a special interest in knee and hip surgery
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Mr Unnikrishnan Ramkumar

Mr Ramkumar is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire who specialises in hip and knee procedures in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire
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Mr Tarun Taneja

Mr Tarun Taneja is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon who specialises in knee surgery.
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Knee Arthroscopy