The giant cells in the synovial membrane.

Histopathological examinations of synovial tissues, obtained in 393 operations, disclosed the presence of foreign body giant cells or synovial giant cells or both in 51 cases. The presence of the former could be related to the occurrence of material foreign to the location, whereas for the latter group fo coincidence of precipitated fibrin only was noted in a significant number of cases. The patients operated upon were classified by 10 diagnosed entities of joint disease, and the synovial giant cells, lysing among synoviocytes or in the subsynoviocytic tissue, were observed in 8 of these categories. Thus no diagnostic significance could be attributed to the giant cells.