To evaluate the clinical efficacy of knee arthroscopic synovectomy plus disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.
A total of 97 RA patients were treated with knee arthroscopic synovectomy plus DMARD after arthroscopy. The control group received only DMARD. The patients were assessed at pre-treatment and 1, 6, 12, 24 month post-treatment. Tender joint count, swollen joint count, morning stiffness, resting pain, patient global assessment, physician global assessment, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), rheumatoid factor (RF) and disease activity score (DAS) 28 were observed.
Tender joint count, swollen joint count, morning stiffness, resting pain, patient global assessment, physician global assessment and DAS 28 score improved significantly at 1, 6 month post-treatment in the combined treatment group versus the control group. At 2 years post-treatment, there was still significant difference in DAS28 between two groups.
The combined treatment of knee arthroscopic synovectomy and disease modifying antirheumatic drugs can control the disease activity of RA during an early period. And a long-term efficacy may be maintained.