The purpose of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of synovial biopsy in the clinical diagnosis of crystal-associated arthropathies (CAAs). Researchers analysed biopsy reports involving synovial tissue between 1988 and 2015 for our retrospective research. We next went over the records of individuals who had a biopsy conducted because they had a clinical suspicion of CAA (the clinical group) and estimated the likelihood of a positive diagnosis. To compare clinical features of patients with and without a tissue diagnosis of CAA, the t test, Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test, and Fisher test were employed. The accidental category included examples of unexpected discovery of crystalline disease involving synovial tissue. They found 65 instances in the clinical group and 33 cases in the accidental group among 2786 synovial biopsies. A relevant diagnosis was acquired from synovial tissue in 36.9 percent of the clinical sample, and a CAA was identified in 20%. When clinical biopsies were restricted to those conducted with a primary suspicion of CAA, a meaningful diagnosis was established in 61.3 percent of cases, and a CAA was confirmed in 38.7 percent. The incidental group contained 7 mass lesions and accounted for 1.2 percent of total synovial biopsies. During the study period, no biopsy revealed the presence of basic calcium phosphate.
When traditional methods of diagnostics fail to diagnose suspected CAA, a synovial biopsy is an alternative. In the differential diagnosis of muscular mass lesions resembling neoplasms, crystalline disorders should be examined.
Reference:https://journals.lww.com/jclinrheum/Abstract/2020/06000/Synovial_Biopsy_in_the_Diagnosis_of.5.aspx
