This book is a record of the papers read at the first meeting of the European Society of Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy (ESKA). This was held in the magnificent International Congress Centre (ICC) in West Berlin. Planning for the inaugural meeting of a proposed large society is inevitably fraught with problems and doubts. However, thanks to the tremendous assistance given by the ICC organization and to the participation of so many orthopaedic surgeons from Europe and all over the world the society had a very successful meeting, and it is fitting that the papers are collected together in this book as a permanent record. Various factors combined to delay the appearance of the book until now, shortly before the second ESKA meeting (1986) in Basle. We should like to take this opportunity of thanking Springer-Verlag for all the hard work involved in ensuring that the book was finished before this occasion and while the subject matter is still so topical.