Arthroscopic partial synovectomy for early rheumatoid arthritis with knee synovitis.

Objective: To observe the long effects of Arthroscopic partial synovectomy for early rheumatoid arthritis(RA)with knee synovitis. Methods: A total of 19 RA cases with knee synovitis received Arthroscopic synovectomy from September 1998 to May 2006 in our hospital and were followed for 3～11 years (mean 6.5 years).The knee function was assessed by using Ishikawa scores before and after surgery. Results: The and excellent rate was 79% at 3 th week after surgery and that was 42.1% at 6.3 th year after synovectomy. Conclusion: The short-term efficacy of Arthroscopic partial synovectomy have obtained good results, however, the long-term efficacy were not satisfied. Arthroscopic synovectomy was the key to improve the efficacy.