The endoscope has been widely used in various clinical fields, but the arthroscopy has been little known in the practical application except in Japan. The arthroscope was first designed by Takagi in 1920 and modified and steadily developed ever since ...
The endoscope has been widely used in various clinical fields, but the arthroscopy has been little known in the practical application except in Japan. The arthroscope was first designed by Takagi in 1920 and modified and steadily developed ever since for clinical application. By the arthroscopy the intraarticular tissues can be directly observed and biopsied for the histological diagnosis which will enable early diagnosis and therefore early treatment. There has been no report or experiences of arthroscopic study so far in Korean.
Employing Model No. 21 arthroscope the author have made an observations on 35 knees including 9 cases of trauma and 26 cases of arthritic conditions.
The summary of the findings as follows ;
1. In the diagnosis of suppurative arthritis, the clinical and bacteriological examinations are more decisive factors in diagnosis but arthroscopy is of great value in obtaining tissues for biopsy when bacterial culture is not conclusive.
2. When the tuberculous tubercles of the synovial membranes are clearly shown endoscopically, this modality is an excellent diagnostic tool in cases of tuberculous artritis.
3. Arthroscopically rheumatoid arthritis and nonspecific synovitis are manifested by proliferation and adematous change of villi, fibrin net work and thickened synovial membrane but it is difficult to differentiate these changes from the findings seen in other diseases. The arthroscopy howevere played an important role in the diagnosis of these joint conditions by means of biopsy.
4. In the cases of tearing of cruciate ligaments and meniscus injury, the appearance and extent of the injury are cleary demonstrated by arthroscopy and therefore this method is an invaluable one in the diagnosis of traumatic derangement of the joint.
5. Judging from the results obtained, the author feels that the arthroscope is a good tool not only for clinical diagnosis but of the study on miscellaneous disorders of the knee joints although the arthroscope has a few difficulties in operation and interpretation of the findings.