This study presents the macroscopic and histologic results of 35 knee arthroscopies performed on patients with rheumatoid arthritis, some months after an yttrium or osmic acid intraarticular injection. The procedure was most often performed after a failure of the injection or a relapse of synovitis. Arthroscopy provides an understanding of the cause of synoviorthesis failure--insufficient action of the product on the synovitis or its poor diffusion, fibri-nonecrotic deposits, or cartilaginous lesions--and may be used both diagnostically and therapeutically.