by Dr Chris Lee, Pet Universe, Manningham, SA
The Mi Eye 2 needlescope gives me the ability to quickly diagnose joint disease such as early cruciate ligament injury and medial shoulder instability.
What’s good about it
Being able to see inside joints allows me to treat with confidence. Under the same anaesthetic for radiography, you can insert a needlescope into the joint, examine the intra-articular structures and immediately diagnose the problem. There are conditions such as medial shoulder instability and cartilage damage that are not diagnosable by MRI or CT scan. However, when there’s torn ligaments inside the shoulder, you can see that on a needlescope. Chronic joint and musculoskeletal issues often take a long time to get better. As time goes on and the problem doesn’t improve, it can make you wonder if you’ve made the correct diagnosis. However, with a needlescope, you can confirm your diagnosis immediately. The results appear on a modified tablet. The camera has auto-focus and auto lighting so the results are very clear. Once the needle sheath is retracted and the optic scope is in place, it can’t cause any damage to the joint. This system is also extremely handy for diagnosing partial cruciate tears. Using the needlescope and diagnosing <50% fibre tear has an 80 per cent success rate with healing anterior cruciate ligaments using stem cells and rehabilitation.
What’s not so good
When I purchased it, the needlescopes had software limited to 10 uses of half an hour each. The manufacturer has now removed that software block. The handpiece needs to be sterilised through gas so we have to send ours to a steriliser. We have five handpieces we cycle through.
Where did you get it
I got mine overseas but Austvet Endoscopy has a range of arthroscopic equipment.
How do you get mi-eye2?
Hi Mila – try the link at the bottom of the article. Thanks.