ABSTRACT
Treatment of patients suffering from inflammatory joint disease is usually based
on systemic pharmacotherapy and local treatment. In rheumatoid arthritis, for
example, pain and joint swelling are often satisfactorily treated by anti-
inflammatory or immunosuppressive drugs. However, it is quite common that
single joints remain painful and require additional local treatment. Local
therapy is also frequently indicated in degenerative osteoarthritis, where phar-
macotherapy is less effective. While surgical procedures to remove the inflamed
synovial membrane as well as intra-articular application of steroids are the most
widely used local treatment modalities, radiation synovectomy has gained more
and more acceptance during the last decade. The first animal studies
using radionuclides for joint treatment were performed as early as 1923, and
synovectomy by intra-articular application of b-emitting radioisotopes in patients was introduced in 1952 by Fellinger and Schmid in Vienna (1).
Since that time, a large number of radionuclides have been studied and analyzed
in clinical trials. Since 1968, the term radiosynoviorthesis has been used, meaning
a restoration (from the Greek word “orthesis”) of the synovial membrane (from
the Greek word “synovia”) by the use of radionuclides (2). Today, radiosyno-
viorthesis is an alternative or supplementary therapeutic approach in addition to
pharmacotherapy for the treatment of patients suffering from painful inflammatory
joint disease.
