Diagnostic value of blind synovial biopsy in clinical practice

EJA Kroot*, Angelique Weel, Mieke Hazes, Pieter Zondervan, Rien Heijboer, Paul van Daele, Radboud Dolhain

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To assess the diagnostic value of blindly performed synovial biopsies in carefully selected patients with unclassified arthritis.

METHODS: Synovial tissue was obtained blindly under local anaesthesia. The Arthroforce III take-apart 3.5 mm needle and 1.5 mm grasping forceps were used for this purpose.

RESULTS: Four patients with unclassified arthritis could be diagnosed properly based upon examination of synovial tissue of the knee obtained by an easy-to-perform blind biopsy. The arthritis of the four patients was diagnosed as being part of Erdheim-Chester disease, sarcoidosis, multicentric reticulohistiocytosis and arthritis caused by foreign-body material, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: Analysis of synovial tissue obtained during a blind biopsy procedure has diagnostic potential in carefully selected patients with unclassified arthritis. The common denominator in all the cases presented was a differential diagnosis consisting of a rheumatological disease with characteristic histological features.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)192-195
Number of pages4
JournalRheumatology
Volume45
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2006

Research programs

  • EMC MM-03-24-01
  • EMC MUSC-01-31-01
  • EMC MUSC-01-51-01

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