MRI Diagnosis of Recurrent Pigmented Villonodular Synovitis following Total Joint Arthroplasty

Pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS) can recur after complete synovectomy and even after total joint replacement. In the authors' experience, there is a misconception that MRI may not be useful to diagnose PVNS in the setting of a total joint replacement due to dephasing artifact from metal. While there are case reports of PVNS in patients with total joint replacement diagnosed surgically, to our knowledge, diagnosis of recurrent PVNS by MRI following total joint replacement has not been reported. This report illustrates the utility of MRI in the diagnosis of recurrent PVNS following total joint replacement by reviewing two cases of pathologically correlated PVNS recurrence following arthroplasty, and two cases in which PVNS recurrence is strongly suspected, though pathological correlation is not available.