The use of a small camera at the end of a wand to perform surgery. Usually the surgeon makes 3 holes (called portals) into the structure he/she is going to operate on (like a joint, or perhaps the abdomen). The camera wand (arthroscope) is passed through one hole. The other two holes are used to perform the surgery. Sometimes a surgery is too difficult to perform arthroscopically and in those cases, the surgeon will make a larger incision that allows him/her to see the structures directly. This is called an “open procedure.”