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Updated: May 15, 2026
Knee Arthrocentesis in Adults
Published on: February 25, 2022
EVALUATION OF THE RADIOISOTOPIC SYNOVECTOMY PROTOCOL IN PATIENTS WITH HEMOPHILIA
Marcela Dos Santos Martins1, Janaina Bosso da Silva Ricciardi1, Allan de Oliveira Santos1
1Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Faculdade de Ciencias Medicas, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Introduction:
Hemophilia is an inherited hemorrhagic disorder in which the most common musculoskeletal manifestation is intra-articular hemorrhage. Successive hemarthroses result in chronic synovitis, joint surface destruction, and chronic hemophilic arthropathy. When conservative treatment cannot halt an already established synovitis, removing the synovium may interrupt the process of joint destruction, and radioisotopic synovectomy (RS) becomes one of the treatments of choice.
Objective:
To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the RS protocol in reducing the incidence of hemarthrosis in patients with hemophilia.
Materials And Methods:
This retrospective study is based on a review of medical records. We compared the number of bleeding events one year before and one year after RS. Results were submitted to statistical analysis and compared using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test.
Results:
65 RS procedures were performed between 2008 and 2018 in patients followed at our institution. The number of bleeding events recorded in the joints submitted to intervention in the year preceding the procedure was 367. In contrast, the number in the following year was 203, a reduction of 44.68% (P<0.001). There were no complications related to the procedure during the analyzed period.
Conclusion:
The RS protocol was safe and effective in reducing the number of bleeding events. Level of Evidence IV; Case Series.