Amrita Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, in collaboration with the Department of Clinical Hematology, Amrita Hospitals has launched the breakthrough ‘Radio-Synovectomy’ (RS) procedure to treat hemophilia patients suffering from chronic synovitis.

Yttrium-90, a necessary element required for the treatment is being procured from France, especially for this procedure. 

The Hospital is the only one to have introduced it for the first ever time in Kerala and this is the second such centre in the whole of India. The only other hospital to be conducting this procedure in the country is CMC Vellore in Tamil Nadu. 

RS, a simple, effective and safe procedure helps control hemophilic synovitis, a condition wherein there is recurrent joint bleeding contributing to end-stage degeneration. Hemophilia is a bleeding disorder cause due to deficiency of clotting factor 8 or 9. The patient bleeds into their joints and is incapacitated by the pain and swelling. Ideally, this treatment is for patients who bleed even with factor replacement (a type of treatment where clotting factors are given to replace the missing clotting factor). 

Elaborating further on the procedure, Dr Nittu Devassy Panjikaran, Assistant professor of Physical medicine and rehabilitation, Amrita Hospitals said, “Radio-Synovectomy is an outpatient-based procedure that is done by injecting Yttrium-90, radioactive material into the affected joints under local anesthesia. It has been proven to be as effective as surgical synovectomy in patients without deformities. It is more economical, less painful, and can be repeated if required. It reduces the bleed rate by 60-80 % in the injected joint and improves the patient’s quality of life.”