Concentration of iron in synovial membrane, synovial fluid, and serum in rheumatoid arthritis and other joint diseases.

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Abstract
The concentration of iron in the synovial membrane in patients with rheumatoid arthritis was found to be consistently high. In samples taken from 24 joints in 20 patients the mean value was 347 u g iron/g dry tissue. This contrasts with a mean value of 15. 2ug/g in 5 synovial samples removed at autopsy from normal knee joints. In other non-traumatic joint diseases, levels of synovial tissue iron comparable to those found in the rheumatoid patients were seen only in cases of hemochromatosis and pigmented villo-nodular synovitis. A significant correlation was demonstrated between serum and synovial fluid iron in 10 rheumatoid patients. However, no correlation could be shown between either the serum or synovial fluid iron and the synovial tissue iron. Iron deposits in rheumatoid arthritis may arise from continued oozing of blood from the vascular granulation tissue into the synovial cavity. If there is any impairment of release of iron from these sizeable stores, it is likely that this may play a role in the hy-poferremia andanemia of rheumatoid arthritis.