Arthroscopic treatment of post-traumatic synovitis of the knee joint

Objective To investigate the advantages of arthroscopic treatment of the post traumatic synovitis of the knee joint. Methods Thirty six cases of the post traumatic synovitis of the knee joint who were treated from September 1987 to August 2000 were reviewed. The typical symptoms of the post traumatic synovitic knee joint included swelling (16 cases), mechanical type pain (12 cases) and both (8 cases). Through physical examination, X ray and MRI in some cases, the other internal lesions were excluded before operation. Arthroscopic synovectomy was performed on all cases. Results Twenty four cases had local synovitis and 12 diffuse synovitis. Some other internal lesions were found in 9 cases. Based on the arthroscopic observations, post traumatic synovitis were filtration (7 cases), hyperplasia (23 cases) and fibrosis (6 cases). Excellent and good results in 32 cases were 87.5% after average follow up of 3.7 years. Those who had joint swelling, filtration and hyperplasia obtained better results. Conclusions Treatment of the post traumatic synovitis of the knee joint with arthroscopic synovectomy not only shows great advantages, but also can help find other potential internal lesions.