Abstract
Ultrasound-guided needle synovial biopsies are useful for clinical practice and research in rheumatology. With the emergence of personalized medicine for the treatment of inflammatory rheumatic diseases, it is predicted that this technique will be increasingly used in the near future. Standardized characterization of the technical aspects of ultrasound-guided needle synovial biopsies is needed in order to produce solid evidence on the safety and effectiveness of the technique.
Highlights
Synovial biopsies have been used for several decades to study synovium
They have been mostly used to enhance the differential diagnosis in cases of monoarthritis, mostly chronic, being useful for the diagnosis of fastidious infectious agents, infiltrative diseases, and for some selected cases of crystal induced arthropathies
Synovial biopsies have been mostly used to clarify the pathogenesis of rheumatic inflammatory diseases, namely rheumatoid arthritis and spondyloarthritis
Summary
Synovial biopsies have been used for several decades to study synovium. In clinical practice, they have been mostly used to enhance the differential diagnosis in cases of monoarthritis, mostly chronic, being useful for the diagnosis of fastidious infectious agents, infiltrative diseases, and for some selected cases of crystal induced arthropathies. There are several ways of collecting synovial tissue, and the four most commonly used nowadays include blind needle, arthroscopic, ultrasound guided with portal and forceps and ultrasound guided needle biopsy [2]. With the increasing use of ultrasound in rheumatology two minimally invasive techniques of synovial biopsy were developed: portal and forceps and needle, allowing the study of smaller joints [1, 3]. Both techniques seem safe and well-tolerated with appropriate training. With this paper we aim to describe our procedures on how to perform an ultrasound guided needle biopsy of the shoulder, elbow, hip, knee, and tibiotalar joints
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