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 intra-articular 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.