Yttrium radiosynoviorthesis in the treatment of knee arthritis in rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic review

Objective-To consider the question: How strong is the evidence in favour of yttrium synovectomy in chronic knee arthritis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in comparison with placebo and intraarticular steroid treatment? Methods-A systematic review of the literature was performed using Medline and the Embase database. Results-Initially, seven papers were identified, but only two met the inclusion criteria. Neither study showed evidence in favour of yttrium synovectomy Conclusion-From the point of view of evidence based medicine it should be seriously questioned whether yttrium synovectomy deserves a place in clinical practice.