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Updated: May 27, 2026

Synovial Fluid Analysis to Identify Osteoarthritis
Published on: October 20, 2022
Spectrum of synovial pathologies: a pictorial assay
Sriram Jaganathan1, Ankur Goyal, Ankur Gadodia
1Department of Radiodiagnosis, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Abstract:
The synovium, a specialized vascular tissue, lines the diarthrodial joints, bursae, and tendon sheaths of the body. It helps in nourishment of articular structures. The synovium is affected by a variety of disorders that can be either localized or systemic. Although normal synovium is barely perceptible on magnetic resonance imaging, it provides an excellent imaging modality for the evaluation of pathologic processes involving the synovium. The pathologic processes affecting the synovium include 1 of the following etiologies: inflammatory, infectious, degenerative, traumatic, or neoplastic and tumor-like conditions. In this article, we discuss the magnetic resonance imaging technique and the sequences used in the evaluation of synovial pathologies and review the characteristic imaging findings of specific conditions thus narrowing the differential diagnoses.
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