No smoke without fire--simple recommendations to avoid arthroscopic burns.

Despite anecdotal stories, the potential of the arthroscope tip or the light cable end to cause thermal burns to the surgical drapes and to patients has not been investigated in orthopaedic surgery. This study shows that the arthroscopic tip registering a temperature of 41.9 degrees C, is unlikely to cause skin burns but causes singeing of drapes without combustion. The light cable end registers a temperature of 101 degrees C with the potential for causing skin burns. It has been demonstrated to cause combustion of disposable arthroscopic drapes within seconds at a distance of 0.5 cm. It is recommended that the light source should be switched on only after the light cable has been connected to the arthroscope. The light cable end must not rest on the drapes once the light source has been switched on, as thermal burns will occur within seconds. A retractable shield of 2.5 cm fitted to the light cable end may virtually avoid the potential for combustion.