What is arthroscopic shoulder surgery?

Arthroscopic surgery is different than conventional or traditional forms of surgery. A traditional surgery uses large incisions to expose the area of injury. An arthroscopic procedure is performed through multiple tiny incisions through which our physicians insert an arthroscope. The arthroscope has a small camera attached to the end that allows him to see inside the joint while watching on a screen. With an arthroscopic surgery, there may be less damage to the surrounding tissues during surgery and visualization of the damaged area is improved. Our physicians can use arthroscopic instruments to perform many common shoulder surgeries, including reattachment of a torn tendon or ligament, removal of bone spurs, and treating arthritic areas of the shoulder, among others.

When would you recommend arthroscopic shoulder surgery?

Arthroscopic surgery can be used to treat many common shoulder conditions. our physicians may recommend using this technique to repair a rotator cuff tear, repair ligaments injured during a shoulder dislocation, debride (or trim) tissues and bone spurs, and manage certain arthritic shoulder conditions.  

What are the benefits of arthroscopic surgery?

Arthroscopic surgery provides advantages over traditional open surgery. For one, the magnified camera imagery offers more detail than observable by the human eye, and the ability to diagnose and treat distant areas of the shoulder that otherwise would have gone unseen through a limited open incision is far greater.  Many patients who undergo arthroscopic surgery experience less skin and soft tissue damage and therefore less postsurgical pain than conventional surgery. As a less invasive surgery, it also limits scarring. Lastly, our physicians perform arthroscopy on an outpatient basis so you go home the same day because the invasiveness of the procedure is diminished.  Overnight and longer hospital stays are things of the past since the application of arthroscopy.

What are the risks associated with arthroscopic surgery?

With smaller incisions and less damage to surrounding tissue, there are some risks of conventional surgery that are lessened with arthroscopic surgery. In certain cases, an arthroscopic procedure may pose less of a risk for wound healing complications after surgery, for example. However, patients still require anesthesia for arthroscopic surgery and there are other risks of all surgeries that cannot be completely eliminated, even with the most minimally invasive techniques. If recommending an arthroscopic shoulder surgery, our physicians will review the risks of the surgery in detail with each patient individually.