Tiny video camera aids hand surgery.

Workers who depend on their hands for their livelihood--such as typists, factory employees, and repair technicians--sometimes may find themselves facing a debilitating pain that prevents them from completing even simple tasks. Although plastic surgery can repair carpal tunnel syndrome, which costs American industry billions of dollars each year in lost work time, previous surgical techniques have resulted in patients' recovery taking six weeks or longer--until now.

By using endoscopic surgery, a procedure that involves burrowing a tiny camera under the skin to view the area that needs treatment, doctors can perform surgery literally by watching TV "We've revolutionalized what used to be invasive surgery with minimally invasive surgery," explains John Moore of the Plastic Reconstructive Hand Surgery Center, Olathe, Kans., who uses endoscopic surgery to relieve carpal tunnel syndrome. "We're trying to reduce the amount of damage you do with normal tissue by using a tiny videocamera that's inserted into the hand through a half-inch incision at the wrist. Through that camera, we then enlarge the carpal tunnel to take the pressure off the nerves and the wrist." As a result, patients can return to work...