الفهرس 
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Abstract
Important progress has been made during the past 30 years in arthroscopic ankle surgery. Ankle arthroscopy has gradually changed from a diagnostic to a therapeutic tool. Absolute contraindications for ankle arthroscopy are infection and severe degenerative joint disease. Relative contraindications are joint space narrowing or moderate to severe arthrosis, vascular disease and edema1.
In the past a diagnostic arthroscopy was performed in cases of unexplained pain,swelling, stiffness, haemarthrosis, locking and ankle instability. Therapeutic indications, by contrast, have extended over time. Indications for ankle arthroscopy
include soft tissue and bony impingement, osteochondral defects, loose bodies and synovitis2 . Some of these indications originate from experimental studies in which arthroscopy was initially used as a diagnostic tool.
In contrast to knee,the ankle has fewer intra-articular structures that need to be examined for diagnosis3.
Two questions are arising : Is ankle arthroscopy put to a good purpose and is it of benefit in each case? What are the risks and complications that have to be expected? The availability of non-invasive diagnosis has to be taken into consideration answering these two questions4.
Arthroscopy of ankle is a relatively new discipline but has been increasingly applied to the diagnostic and therapeutic purposes of ankle disorders5.
One of the recent studies proved that ankle arthroscopy is very effective in the diagnosis and management of variable ankle disorders particularly cases of osteochondritis dissicans(OCD)6.