Arthroscopy is a procedure used to view the interior of which structure?

• A. A joint
• B. The stomach
• C. The heart
• D. The brain

Answer: (A)

Arthroscopy is the practice of looking inside a joint with a small camera called an arthroscope. This minimally invasive approach lets the clinician directly visualize the interior structures of a joint—such as cartilage, the menisci, ligaments, and the joint lining—and often perform repairs or remove damaged tissue using tiny surgical instruments passed through additional small incisions. Because it involves entering a joint cavity, the interior being viewed is a joint. The stomach, heart, and brain are examined with different scopes and techniques (endoscopy for the stomach, cardiac/neurological visualization for heart or brain, respectively), not with arthroscopy. So the structure being viewed with arthroscopy is a joint, with the knee being a common example.