A comprehensive present opinion on arthroscopic surgery of shoulder joint and its importance in modern clinical medicine is presented. Morphology of shoulder joint is given in more detail, basic equipment for arthroscopic operation is described and arthroscopic operations in individual segments of shoulder are described. Possibilities of arthroscopy to solve chronic posttraumatic instabilities of glenohumeral joint are given particular attention. Individual positive aspects of arthroscopy are evaluated. They include epsecially minimal invasiveness under the same effectiveness as compared with classical open interventions.

        Key words: shoulder, arthroscopic surgery, instability of joint, stabilization operation