Orthopedics Today reports while advancements have paved the way for office-based surgery, the adoption is relatively uncommon among orthopedic surgeons as it is still in its early stages according to Joshua S. Dines, MD, sports medicine surgeon at HSS and others.

Dr. Dines advised patients with multiple medical comorbidities should not undergo office-based procedures where an anesthesiologist is unavailable. He noted that office-based diagnosis and procedures are not a cure all and do not offer all the benefits of the operating room (OR). “You have to have a good discussion with the patient beforehand and have a firm idea of what you are going to try to accomplish from a procedural standpoint to make sure that it can be done safely in the office,” cited Dr. Dines.

How the future of office-based procedures unfolds will have a lot to do with continued surgical and technological improvements, cited Dr. Dines. “We are just in the infancy of this diagnostic arthroscopy and in-office arthroscopy. As we get better at it, as the instruments improve, we will probably do more, but now most people would err on the side of being more conservative and err on the side of caution and do less in the office,” he said.

Read the full article at Healio.com/news/orthopedics.