NYU Langone Health recently earned the distinction of being the first-ever health system to conduct a foot and ankle arthroscopic surgery with an innovative camera system for a minimally invasive process that requires only local anesthesia.
Orthopedic surgeons at NYU Langone’s Foot and Ankle Center used the NanoScope™ visualization system for the first time, a needle-sized, 1.9-mm chip-on-the-tip scope. It helps in analyzing and detecting conditions such as arthritis and cartilage injuries, and can even hell orthopedic or endoscopic procedures in joints like the knee, elbow, wrist, and ankle.
John G. Kennedy who is the lead of the Division of Foot and Ankle Surgery and scholar in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at NYU Langone conducted an ankle debridement. It is a procedure to “wipe out” bone spurs and scar tissue.
It was done on the ankle of a sportsman who had undergone the previous cartilage restoration surgery—as the first procedure using the new system. The procedure allowed Dr. Kennedy to assess the cartilage repair simultaneously as he was cleaning the bone spurs. The patient was well and could walk out of the office just 15 minutes after the procedure.
“We are grateful to be the first center to try out this new platform, which not only helps with the most cutting-edge treatments for our patients but also give them to be a partner in their own medical care,” says Dr. Kennedy. “With NanoScope™, we can give our patients the ACTUAL images of their joint while being in the comforts of our clinic, and act quickly and precisely to sort out certain joint issues that greatly affect their quality of life, without having to wait for an MRI or set foot in an operating room.”
Patients who suffer sports- or dance-related ankle or foot injuries, as well as common foot and ankle niggles, can receive a scientific, modern and quality care at any of NYU Langone’s foot and ankle care program outpatient locations.
