Arthroscopy (also called arthroscopic surgery) is a fairly new surgical procedure to veterinary medicine that allows evaluation and sometimes treatment of the inside of a joint in a minimally invasive fashion. The surgical procedure uses a tiny viewing instrument called an arthroscope that acts as a camera, and arthroscopic instruments (if treatment is needed). The surgical instruments used are much smaller than traditional instruments and instead of looking at the joint directly; the joint area is viewed on a video monitor.