SYNOVECTOMY FOR RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

Abstract

1. The follow-up reports of ninety-one joints affected by rheumatoid arthritis and treated by synovectomy showed that seventy-three joints remained free of pain. Forty-nine out of ninety-one joints retained useful function after a period averaging three and a half years. 2. The average duration of the disease before admission was eight and a half years. 3. The joints causing most distress were selected for operation. Better results might have been obtained if these patients had received constitutional treatment, splintage and synovectomy earlier. Many of these patients had advanced disease which was continuing to advance at the time of their admission, in spite of previous treatment. Many accepted a trial of treatment in a long stay hospital as a last hope. 4. The return of forty-eight out of sixty-two patients to unassisted or nearly unassisted activity and the maintenance of this state in thirty-nine out of fifty-four shows that the success of the pilot scheme conducted in cooperation with Dr W. S. Tegner and Dr R. M. Mason of the London Hospital has been confirmed by further experience.