[Catamnestic studies of the significance of synovial membrane needle biopsy for the diagnosis of rheumatic disease].

By means of a catamnestic study diagnostic evidence, number of complications and examination-conditioned stress of the patient caused by needle biopsy of the synovial membrane were tested. 4-11 years after a blind biopsy of the synovial membrane carried out on account of rheumatological indication 80 patients (48 males, 32 females) were examined and the results of the preliminary examination and the secondary examination were compared with the findings of the needle biopsy of the synovial membrane. While the needle biopsy of the synovial membrane in rheumatoid arthritis has a high diagnostic value in comparison to clinical and paraclinical findings, in the histomorphological ascertainment of the uric arthritis the catamnestic study shows the limits of the method due to place-depending differences of the findings of the crystalline deposit in the synovial membrane. The number of complications of the investigation technique was insignificant and had no influence on the duration of the inability to work. As a highly specialised diagnostic method the blind biopsy of the synovial membrane may contribute to the clarification of problem cases in institutions with rheumatological profile without possibility of arthroscopy.