Diagnostic value of blind synovial biopsy in clinical practice.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the diagnostic value of blindly performed synovial biopsies in carefully selected patients with unclassified arthritis.


METHODS
Synovial tissue was obtained blindly under local anaesthesia. The Arthroforce III take-apart 3.5 mm needle and 1.5 mm grasping forceps were used for this purpose.


RESULTS
Four patients with unclassified arthritis could be diagnosed properly based upon examination of synovial tissue of the knee obtained by an easy-to-perform blind biopsy. The arthritis of the four patients was diagnosed as being part of Erdheim-Chester disease, sarcoidosis, multicentric reticulohistiocytosis and arthritis caused by foreign-body material, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Analysis of synovial tissue obtained during a blind biopsy procedure has diagnostic potential in carefully selected patients with unclassified arthritis. The common denominator in all the cases presented was a differential diagnosis consisting of a rheumatological disease with characteristic histological features.
Kroot
E J A
EJ
Erasmus MC, Department of Rheumatology, Z-712, PO Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Weel
A E A M
AE
Hazes
J M W
JM
Zondervan
P E
PE
Heijboer
M P
MP
van Daele
P L A
PL
Dolhain
R J E M
RJ
D000328:Adult; D001168:Arthritis / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D001706:Biopsy; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D031249:Erdheim-Chester Disease / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000150:complications; D015616:Histiocytosis, Non-Langerhans-Cell / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012507:Sarcoidosis / Q000175:diagnosis; D013583:Synovial Membrane / Q000473:pathology*