[Arthroscopy of the non-inflamed knee (traumatic or not). Apropos of 500 cases]

Arthroscopy is not a new technique, as it has been in use for more than half a century, but it is now coming of age. On the basis of 500 cases, the authors demonstrate its value in the investigation and treatment of internal derangements of the knee for which it is very often difficult to make an aetiological diagnosis. In the case of meniscectomy, it makes up for the lack of formal reliability of arthrography. It can detect a little known disease: diseases of the synovial reflections and it reveals the incidence of meniscal and ligamentous lesions which often pass unnoticed. In each of these areas; arthroscopy is not only a valuable aid to diagnosis, but also a therapeutic advance in that it allows short stay hospitalization and although, like all forms of surgery, it carries its risks, it seems to be an advance on the techniques used up until now.