In a review of the literature, intra- and postoperative complications in arthroscopic surgery of the knee joint are analyzed on the basis of 167,210 reported cases. Depending on the variable criteria and definitions, the respective studies are based upon the individual complication rates differ greatly between 0.8 and 17.7%. The incidence of serious complications was less than 1%. Factor analysis proved the following variables to be correlated with the incidence of complications: age and sex, kind and etiology of joint lesion, kind of operative procedure performed, duration of operation, and experience of the surgeon. Compared to arthrotomy, arthroscopic surgery is associated with reduced morbidity and a low complication rate.