Kei Apple Plant Thorn Synovitis

Abstract

Plant thorn synovitis is well described but may be overlooked in the differential diagnosis of monoarticular inflammatory disease. It can present as a diagnostic difficulty because of its insidious onset after an apparently trivial injury, which may not be reported. Historically, thorn synovitis has been considered aseptic and treated with removal of the intra-articular foreign body and the affected synovial ring. We present a child with Kei apple thorn that had penetrated into the right knee joint and lodged in the medial compartment