As a result, exploratory surgery is largely a thing of the past. Anyone who has spent time in a hospital in recent years, particularly in a surgical or intensive care suite, is well aware of the highly sophisticated equipment used to treat and monitor patients. Fortunately, the improved diagnostic capability mentioned above, plus the availability of arthroscopic surgery, has minimized the amount of time patients spend in a hospital. More often than not, surgical procedures are now performed in outpatient facilities. In the past, surgery for many common injuries, such as damaged ligaments and cartilage or hernias, required weeks in the hospital.
Patients now leave the hospital within hours after surgery and are immediately ambulatory.
Arthroscopic surgery has enabled millions of people to continue active, healthy lifestyles with minimal downtime while substantially reducing the costs of these procedures. In the past few decades, other engineering-based devices and medical procedures have relieved people of constant pain and allowed them to resume normal activities. One of the best known is the artificial hip. In addition, relief from arthritic pain has been achieved by using biomaterials to replace joints for knees, shoulders, elbows and fingers. More than 500,000 arthroplastic procedures and joint replacements are performed each year in the United States.