Nano-arthroscopy: The revolution of arthroscopies in the Medical Transbalkan
Innovative nano-arthroscopy procedures with impressive diagnostic and therapeutic results for joint diseases are performed exclusively at the First Orthopedic Clinic of the Inter-Balkan Medical Center of Thessaloniki, with the unique nanoscope system from Arthrex, in Greece.
Nano-arthroscopy is a percutaneous technique with rapid recovery that can be applied to diseases in large knee joints (meniscus) as well as smaller joints, such as the ankle, elbow and wrist. It is particularly indicated for athletes in order to achieve rapid, painless and excellent rehabilitation, as well as for people with tight joints (to avoid cartilage and ligament damage from medical procedures), as well as for children and adolescents.
As a diagnostic and surgical tool at the same time, it is unique for patients who cannot undergo MRI (they carry a pacemaker or magnetized materials in their body).
“The 1st Orthopedic Clinic was the first in Greece to start and already has experience in nano-arthroscopy with excellent results in its patients,” emphasizes Orthopedic Surgeon Konstantinos Dimitrakas and explains why the new technique excels over the others:
“The nano-arthroscope has a camera system – a flexible optical diameter of just 1.9 millimeters with a field of view of 120o as well as nano-tools with a diameter of 2 millimeters. Therefore, common procedures such as arthroscopic meniscectomy, are performed without even the small surgical incisions for the arthroscopic portals. The camera and the tools are inserted percutaneously into the joint, like a needle. This results in reduced scar tissue formation, which is painful for some patients. In addition, the small size of the nano-tools drastically reduces the risk of iatrogenic damage from tool handling, while in combination with the very large field of view, it allows us to easily reach areas of the joints that were previously inaccessible.
Also, due to its minimally invasiveness, it can be used on a case-by-case basis and only with local anesthesia of the affected joint or in combination with light sedation and without ischemic dressing. This ensures that the patient, primarily the athlete but not only, can leave the Inter-Balkan Medical Center a few hours after the operation, often without bacteria, without swelling, without stitches and have a faster and more painless recovery.
In addition, we can easily use it for second-look arthroscopies in order to check, for example, a previous meniscus suture or a cartilage repair surgery or even as an auxiliary tool in trauma procedures (checking the articular surface in the repair of a tibial plateau fracture).”
We are confident that with the development of this revolutionary technology and nano-tools, much more complex needle arthroscopy procedures will soon be performed at the First Orthopedic Clinic of the Interbalkan Medical Center,” concludes the associate of the Interbalkan Medical Center, Orthopedician Mr. K. Dimitrakas.
