The results of five patients who had hemophilia and a history of
recurrent hemarthrosis and hypertrophic synovitis and who had been managed
with a synovectomy of the ankle were studied at an average age of nine
years (range, four years and seven months to nineteen years). Compared with
the complications encountered after synovectomy of the knee or the elbow,
the rehabilitation process after synovectomy of the ankle was relatively
easy, even for the three youngest children in this series. The average
duration of follow-up was five years (range, one to nine years). By the
latest follow-up examination, the range of motion of the ankle had
increased an average of 10 degrees (range, -5 to 15 degrees). The rate of
hemarthrosis episodes requiring transfusion was reduced from an average of
3.4 per month (range, 0.3 to 5.0 per month) for the six months before the
synovectomy to 0.1 per month (range, zero to 0.2 per month) for the twelve
months before the latest follow-up examination.