Health Education

Applicability of Yttrium-90 Colloidal Suspension Joint Injection

• Mainly applies to the monoarthritis or oligoarthritis of chronic inflammatory arthritis, particularly rheumatoid polyarthritis.

Treatment

• The patients may need to remove joint effusion before injection, followed by injecting Yttrium-90 colloidal suspension fluid into the joint.
• The patients may be injected with steroid via the same path.
• The patients need to fixate the knees and stay bedridden for 2~3 days of rest after injection.

Possible side effects of therapy

• About 2% of the patients will experience transient fever reaction within 24 hours of radiation synovectomy.
• Some people might have allergic reactions.
• Some people feel pain after receiving radioactive colloid injection.
• Inflammatory flare-up at the joint may occur several hours or days after radiation synovectomy. Such symptoms may be relieved by analgesics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug.
• Cutaneous necrosis or dermal-epidermal pigmentation is unusual after radiation synovectomy.

Precautions

• Pregnant women are prohibited from radioactive colloid.
• Children in bone growth period and young people with fertility should try to possibly avoid this compound.
• Radiation synovectomy is prohibited in the application of pyogenic arthritis and synovial bursa rupture.