Table 1.

Pearls and Pitfalls

Pearls	Pitfalls
Switching the viewing and working portals often will improve visualization and diagnosis of pathology. In particular, viewing from a medial portal will improve visualization of the anterior horn.	The extent of intrasubstance degeneration may not be fully appreciated, especially in the anterior horn. The arthroscope will need to view from the anteromedial or the far medial accessory portal while probing through the anterolateral portal to effectively determine this.
Make sure to probe the periphery of the meniscus before and after saucerization to confirm the presence or absence of any peripheral instability.	Failure to resect enough meniscus tissue may leave a patient with persistent mechanical symptoms and may fail to expose any intrasubstance degeneration. A general guideline is to leave 8-10 mm.
Once saucerization is complete, probe the free edge of the meniscus, particularly in the body, to see whether there is any subtle intrasubstance degeneration. It may not always be immediately apparent.	If too few sutures are placed, the area of intrasubstance degeneration may not be adequately closed down, which will allow synovial fluid to get into the space and prevent healing. Space the sutures no more than 5 mm apart to adequately close down the space.