**6.1 Arthroscopic procedures for OA**

Arthroscopic surgery is a routine surgical procedure for joint debridement and lavage in the management of OA since the 1980s. The advent of this technique has permitted less invasive access to joints and the opportunity to intervene earlier in the course of joint destruction, potentially to delay and/or prevent a predictably progressive degenerative pathway. However, in recent times the only indication where this technique is thought to be of benefit is in the management of OA with a superimposed structural lesion such as a meniscal tear in which arthroscopic partial meniscectomy (APM) is performed simultaneously.

There is a strong research and clinical evidence that patients with symptoms attributable to knee OA per se, and not meniscal tear, do not improve following arthroscopic lavage and debridement. Whether APM is useful in patients with symptomatic meniscal tear and concomitant OA is unclear at this stage. This is an area of investigation at the moment.
