title: Synovitis in dogs with stable stifle joints and incipient cranial cruciate ligament rupture: a cross-sectional study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate stifle joints of dogs for synovitis, before development of joint instability and cranial cruciate ligament rupture (CrCLR).
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Dogs (n = 16) with CrCLR and stable contralateral stifles; 10 control dogs with intact CrCL.
  
  
  METHODS
  Arthritis and tibial translation were graded radiographically. Synovitis severity and cruciate pathology were assessed arthroscopically. Presence of inflammatory cells in synovial membrane biopsies was scored histologically. CrCLR stifle pairs and control stifles were compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Radiographic evidence of arthritis, cranial tibial translation, and arthroscopic synovitis were increased in unstable stifles, when compared with stable contralateral stifles in CrCLR dogs (P < .05). Arthroscopic synovitis in both joints of CrCLR dogs was increased compared with controls, was correlated with radiographic arthritis (S(R) = 0.71, P < .05), and was present in all stable contralateral stifles. Arthroscopically, 75% of stable stifle joints had CrCL fiber disruption, which correlated with severity of synovitis (S(R) = 0.56, P < .05). Histologic evidence of synovitis was identified in all CrCLR dogs, but was only significantly correlated with arthroscopic observations in stable stifles (r(2) = 0.57, P < .005).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Synovitis is an early feature of the CrCLR arthropathy in dogs before development of joint instability clinically. Severity of synovitis is correlated with radiographic arthritis in joints with minimal to no clinically detectable CrCL damage.
authors: Comparative Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
authors: Jason A
authors: JA
authors: Bleedorn
authors: Erin N
authors: EN
authors: Greuel
authors: Paul A
authors: PA
authors: Manley
authors: Susan L
authors: SL
authors: Schaefer
authors: Mark D
authors: MD
authors: Markel
authors: Gerianne
authors: G
authors: Holzman
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Muir