title: Recurrence of pigmented villonodular synovitis of the knee 17 years after the initial treatment. A case report.
abstract: Pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS) is a benign proliferative process involving the synovial membranes bursas or tendon sheaths. The rarity of the process, the absence of well-documented long follow-up examinations, as well as reports on different forms of the disease from multiple anatomic sites has lead to some confusion. This is a case report of a 44-year-old woman with recurrence of PVNS of her right knee, 17 years after the initial limited knee synovectomy. It was proven impossible to differentiate the disease from soft-tissue malignancy despite the use of all the available investigation methods, including nuclear magnetic resonance. Eventually the diagnosis was made by an open biopsy. Marginal excision of the soft-tissue mass from the popliteal fossa was performed initially, followed by a total knee synovectomy within the next two weeks. The patient remains recurrence free 32 months after the operation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, Patras University Hospital, Greece.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Panagiotopoulos
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tyllianakis
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lambiris
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Siablis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000601:surgery; D012008:Recurrence; D012983:Soft Tissue Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D013583:Synovial Membrane / Q000473:pathology; D013586:Synovitis, Pigmented Villonodular / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D013997:Time Factors