Effect of Radiosynovectomy with Rhenium-188 in the Treatment of Knee Joint Inflammation in Patients with Hemophilia

One of the effective methods to control chronic hemophilic synovitis is radiosynovectomy. Rhenium-188 is a new radionuclide, and its half-life is 0.7 day. This study aimed to investigate the effect of radiosynovectomy with Rhenium-188 on the knee joint of hemophilic patients. 

Thirty patients with hemophilic synovitis of the knee visited in the orthopedic clinic in 2019 and 2020, entered the study. They all had at least two bleeding per month; in the supine position with slight knee flexion, after local sterilization, 550 to 750 MBq Rhenium-188 was injected into the knee. A splint was installed for five days. The demographic characteristics, radiography, articular line tenderness, joint line tenderness, flexion and extension restrictions, and joint volume characteristics were evaluated before and six months after injection. 

The amount of monthly injected factors (VIII and IX) 6 months after injection was decreased from 5260.2±1836 units to 3870.83±1106 units (p<0.001). The radiographic classification has not changed within six months. The average knee pain score decreased from 7.3±1.2 to 2.3±1.1, after six months (p<0.001), and knee flexion increased from 84.6±26.22 to 114±21.58 degrees (p<0.001). None of the patients have experienced complications such as skin necrosis or joint infection. All patients have reported that the pain increases 24 hr after the injection were manageable.

The use of Rhenium-188 radiopharmaceutical in radiosynovectomy of 30 hemophilic patients’ knees is effective in reducing pain, tenderness of the joint line, and the number of bleeding episodes, and it improved knee range of motion in the short term (6 months).