Arthroscopic treatment for osteoarthritic knee

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the leading cause of knee morbidity. Age and overweight are the main risk factors for development of knee OA. The majority of patients respond to conservative treatment. For those who don't, surgical treatment is the only alternative. Arthroscopic surgery for the osteoarthritic knee is a well known procedure. Recently, numerous publications addressed the advantages of arthroscopic treatment for this indication. Some of the publications concluded that arthroscopic treatment for knee OA equals placebo. Others found temporary relief of symptoms. Among special subgroup of patients, in which acute pain exacerbation, mechanical block or early OA, utilizing arthroscopic techniques revealed satisfactory results. In this review, we discuss the indications and contraindications for arthroscopic treatment of the osteoarthritic knee according to the latest literature.