Studies in Experimental Synovectom

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Abstract
Summary Various types of partial synovectomy were performed on the joint of 46 rabbits. The analysis comprised histological, vital microscopic and microangiographic examination at various intervals after the operation. The investigation showed that practically complete regeneration may be expected after operations performed in such a way as to avoid trauma as far as possible. After ordinary traumatic synovectomy regeneration also occurs but the granulation tissue is dominated by fibrous connective tissue with wide, tortuous blood vessels with slow corpuscular flow and a pattern not seen in normal animals. These vessels appear to be much more sensitive to caloric stimuli than normal synovial vessels. A relatively new clinical method with intra-articular injection of osmium and cortisone (chemical synovectomy) was studied experimentally. The main effect of this method appears to be destruction of the intimai layer of the synovial tissues but with subsequent regeneration of a synovial tissue differing but little from normal.