Editorial Commentary: What You See Is What You Get-Is In-Office Needle Arthroscopy Ready for Prime Time?

Abstract

In-office needle arthroscopy (IONA) has been around for many years, and technological improvements in image fidelity, patient convenience and access to care, and medical economics have resulted in renewed interest in this diagnostic tool. Patients could be well served by an immediate diagnosis of their joint pathology at the initial office encounter. A limitation of the current literature is that for research purposes, studies comparing IONA with diagnostic surgical arthroscopy and/or magnetic resonance imaging have been performed in the operating room-not the office setting. In addition, IONA is limited to intra-articular evaluation. IONA has been shown to be accurate and cost-effective, and future adoption of this modality seems promising.