TY - JOUR T1 - A New Look at an Old Procedure? JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol SP - 1297 LP - 1298 DO - 10.3899/jrheum.220775 VL - 49 IS - 12 AU - Pascal Richette AU - Augustin Latourte Y1 - 2022/12/01 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/49/12/1297.abstract N2 - Joint lavage aims to remove debris such as microscopic or macroscopic fragments of cartilage matrix, bone macromolecules, and crystals that may induce synovitis, a likely source of pain and a putative cause of chondrolysis.1Joint lavage has been used for several decades by rheumatologists and orthopedists for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (OA) and septic arthritis. It can be performed during an arthroscopy, or more easily, on its own by using 1 or 2 needles, allowing the injection of saline (1-3 L) into the joint cavity, which is then evacuated. In this case, the procedure is easy and less expensive, and depending on the disease, can be followed by an intraarticular (IA) injection of corticosteroids.In this issue of The Journal of Rheumatology, Drs. Ike and Kalunian have written a review of the literature on the efficacy of joint lavage for different conditions, not only for knee OA but also for inflammatory arthropathies, microcrystalline arthritis, and septic arthritis.2 This is not a systematic literature review (SLR), but a narrative review.The authors suggest that there is still a place for joint lavage in patients with knee OA.2 However, 2 SLRs conducted on this subject concluded that lavage did not provide any clinically relevant benefit in … Address correspondence to Dr. P. Richette, Hôpital Lariboisière, Rheumatology, 2, rue A. Pare, Paris 75010, France. Email: pascal.richette{at}aphp.fr. ER -