Publication:

A prospective study for diagnosing joint diseases by synovial fluid analysis and percutaneous needle biopsy of synovium

Background Arthritis is an important cause of morbidity, presenting as monoarticular or polyarticular lesion. Percutaneous synovial aspiration and biopsy can help in identifying specific aetiological diagnosis. The study was conducted with the objective to evaluate the efficacy of percutaneous synovial biopsy as a diagnostic aid and study the characteristics of synovial fluid in various joint diseases.

Methods Percutaneous synovial biopsy along with synovial fluid analysis was studied in all the 100 enrolled cases arthritis. The fluid was subjected to physical, biochemical, and cytological analysis.

Results Of the 100 cases, monoarticular joint involvement predominated over polyarticular (n = 80; 80%), knee joint (60%) was most commonly affected in  monoarticular and polyarticular  arthrthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (n=33; 33%)is the most common aetiology followed by tuberculosis (n=22). Males predominated over females in this study (n = 61; 61%).

Conclusion The evaluation of synovial fluid and synovial biopsy in joint diseases will stimulate its use as routine investigative procedure in the diagnosis of various puzzling joint disorders. Both these procedures can be done simultaneously trough the same site of aspiration by the same needle.