Needle Arthroscopic All-Inside Repair of Meniscal Tears Under Local Anesthesia

Tobias Stornebrink; Robbert A H E van Dijck; Dirk Douven; Gino M M J Kerkhoffs

doi:10.1016/j.eats.2021.05.020

Needle Arthroscopic All-Inside Repair of Meniscal Tears Under Local Anesthesia

Arthrosc Tech. 2021 Aug 28;10(9):e2173-e2180. doi: 10.1016/j.eats.2021.05.020. eCollection 2021 Sep.

Authors

Tobias Stornebrink^{1

2

3

4}, Robbert A H E van Dijck⁴, Dirk Douven⁴, Gino M M J Kerkhoffs^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
² Academic Center for Evidence-based Sports Medicine (ACES), Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
³ Amsterdam Collaboration for Health & Safety in Sports (ACHSS), International Olympic Committee (IOC) Research Center Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
⁴ Bergman Clinics, Breda, The Netherlands.

Abstract

Needle arthroscopy has experienced a substantial increase in image quality due to technical innovation, which has brought needle arthroscopic interventional possibilities along. Repair of meniscal tears is gaining popularity relative to meniscectomy and may be such a procedure that is suitable for needle arthroscopy. We here present a needle arthroscopic technique for all-inside repair of meniscal tears in the red zone and red-white zone. With the use of local anesthesia only, the procedure is easy to perform for the surgeon and well-tolerable for the patient. Compared with conventional approaches to meniscal repair, needle arthroscopy may result in improved patient experience, decreased soft-tissue trauma, speedier recovery, and less need for personnel and hospital facilities. Combined, the advantages may lead to decreased overall costs as well.