Children with hemophilia develop recurrent hemarthroses which cause degenerative arthropathy resulting in expensive surgeries. We injected P32 into 40 joints of 26 children with hemophilia. The dose was 0.5 to 1.0 mCi for the knee and 0.25 to 0.5 mCi for the ankle or elbow. The children were evaluated prior to and 6 months following the procedure for frequency of bleeding and joint abnormalities. The median age of the children was 11 years(range 4 - 18). Three children had high titer inhibitors and five were HIV seropositive. A single joint was injected in 15 children, two joints in 9 and three joints in 2. One joint was injected on two occasions. Results for the number of hemorrhages into the target joint for the 6 months prior to and following radiosynoviorthesis were compared: Table

Table 1
Full size table

Joint status improved for all 3 joints although statistical significance was reached only for ankles. Two children suffered radioactivity leaks (10% and 20%). Radiosynoviorthesis is efficacious in reducing the frequency of hemarthroses and should be considered for the prevention of arthritis in children with hemophilia.