A surgical instrument designed for cutting into or incising a joint during orthopedic procedures.
From Greek 'arthron' (joint) + '-tome' (from 'temnein', to cut). The '-tome' suffix appears in many surgical instruments like scalpel and microtome, all referencing the cutting function.
An arthrotome is a specialized knife made specifically for joint surgery—while a regular scalpel might slip on the curved surfaces of joint cartilage, an arthrotome is designed with the angles and grip needed to make precise incisions in the complex landscape of a joint.
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