Minimal Access Surgery or Minimally Invasive Surgery is a surgical technique for performing surgery. As the name suggests it means performing the surgery through a smaller than conventional  incision or by means of an Arthroscope(Laproscope).
A joint replacement surgery is never performed Arthroscopically but it may definitely be performed by the Minimal Access Surgery technique.The reason for performing the surgery and the complications that may arise are the same as those that may be found in Total Knee Replacement- it is only the surgical technique that is different.

As the name suggests in Minimal Access Surgery technique the surgery is performed through a much smaller incision as compared to the conventional surgical incision. The conventional incision is about 8 inches long whereas in the MAS technique the surgical incision is only about 4 inches long. The MAS technique has several advantages over the conservative technique, namely:

1. Being a Quadriceps sparing technique the postoperative discomfort and blood loss is much less as compared to the conservative technique.
The Quadriceps muscle is the large muscle in the front of the thigh. This muscle is responsible for extending your knee i.e. straightening your leg from the bent position. After surgery it is this muscle which requires maximum exercise in order to regain strength. However in surgery done by the MAS technique since the quadriceps muscle is not involved rehabilitation is much faster.

2. As a result of less pain post op rehabilitation is easier and faster. Range Of Motion exercises are started within 24 hours of the surgery and the patient stands and walks on the first postoperative day- as against standing and walking after 3 days in the conservative surgical technique.

3. Reduced hospital stay because of less pain, and early mobilization means reduction of expenses for the patient.

4.  Early mobilsation automatically means that the patients return to normal life is much faster.