Is arthroscopic surgery an option for arthritis?

There are some surgical treatments that are not felt to be effective or appropriate for an arthritic joint.  And by this, I mean arthroscopic treatment of an arthritic joint.  We’re all familiar with arthroscopy of the knee, for example, in which two small incisions are made about the size of a pencil to allow a camera and small shaver to be placed within the joint to examine and clean out different problems within the joint.  This is not really effective long-term for an arthritic problem.  Although it’s used occasionally for patients who may have long-standing arthritis but then have a sudden torn meniscus or torn cartilage within their knee that was previously not problematic.