[Radiosynovectomy of the knee--experience thereof]

The aim of the study was the evaluation of 90Y radiosynovectomy performed in chronic exudative knee synovitis. The analyzed material comprised 81 90Y injections made between 2004 and 2008. The circumference of a knee, the volume of removed exudate, the knee mobility, the presence of pain, the temperature of a knee and the presence of floating patella (exudate) were evaluated. The percentage of pain-free patients increased from 12% to 50% after 1 year; an additional 10% of patients reported pain relief. The patient percentage with an increased knee temperature fell from 42% to 31% and the patients percentage with exudates decreased from 76% to 27. No improvement was found with respect to knee circumference. The knee mobility improvement (the patients percentage with full mobility) increased from 25% to 59% one month after the treatment) and exudate volume reduction was found only in the subgroup of patients suffering from pigmented villonodular synovitis. The obtained results permit the conclusion that 90Y radiosynovectomy for chronic exudative knee synovitis is an effective treatment modality; it relieves pain and reduces the patients percentage with exudate and increased knee temperature, and in the subgroup of patients suffering from the pigmented villonodular synovitis improves the knee mobility and reduces the volume of evacuated exudate.