Orthopedics Today reports on the complexities of second-look knee arthroscopy and alternative options for follow-up knee arthroscopies.

Robert G. Marx, MD, MSc, FRCSC, sports medicine surgeon at HSS, notes that patients who are symptom-free after surgery should not be subjected to second-look arthroscopy as it may cause complications that could have been avoided.

The article explores when this procedure can be used in place of imaging, and also the benefits of in-office arthroscopy.

From a research perspective, second-look knee arthroscopies could be useful for surgeons.

"It may be part of the research protocol that the patient is subjected to a second-look largely for research purposes, so you can learn from that person's experience and perhaps even biopsy a small piece of the regenerative or new tissue or see otherwise what is happening," Dr. Marx says. "But, that would be something that is specified ahead of time and ethically the patient would have the right, of course, to opt out."

Read the full article at Healio.com. This also appeared in the April 2018 print edition.