Abstract
We evaluated the clinical outcome of arthroscopic surgery with the Holmium YAG laser on the knee joint. This study involved 56 patients (26 males and 30 females) with 60 knees. The average follow-up period was 16.2 months (ranges, 1-27 months). Lateral meniscal injuries (total 24 cases) involving discoid menisci (12 cases), medial meniscal injuries (15 cases), recurrent dislocation of the patella (8 cases), rheumatoid arthritis (3 cases), osteochondral fracture (2 cases), and others (8 cases) were treated accordingly. Laser was appllied for partial menisectomy, synovectomy, plica excision, lateral retinacular release, photochondroplasty and debridement. Inflammatory symptoms one week after surgery, pre- and post-operative Japanese Orthopaedic Association scores were used for evaluation. Six patients complained of movement-evoked pain and 2 patients showed swelling on the knee joint one week after surgery. However, almost complete relief in all of them occured after 2 weeks. In all cases, the postoperative JOA score surpassed that of preoperative period. Using this laser, we were able to slant the meniscal stumps and resect the osteochondral fragments arthroscopically. We conclude that arthroscopic surgery of the knee joint with the Holmium YAG laser is very useful for operative treatment of highly inaccessible sites.
