Overarching principles | LoA mean (SD); % of votes ≥8/10 |
1. Synovial biopsies (single and sequential), performed in aseptic conditions, are safe, well-tolerated and can be performed for both clinical and research purposes. | 9.77 (0.53), 100% |
2. In both clinical and research settings, synovial biopsies should be guided by imaging techniques. Arthroscopy and ultrasound are the preferred techniques to guide synovial biopsies. | 9.71 (0.56), 100% |
3. Ultrasound or arthroscopy can be used to guide the synovial biopsy without affecting the tolerability of the procedure or the minimal required tissue for meaningful analysis. | 9.14 (0.96), 83.6% |
Points to consider | |
| 9.38 (0.80), 100% |
2. Overarching clinical study design, including aspects related to participant disease characteristics and treatments, must be defined in order to evaluate the generalisability and validity of the outcome. (LoE 5) | 9.81 (0.51), 100% |
3. Conventional patient disease activity measures, disease stage and treatment should be described in order to evaluate the generalisability and validity of the outcome. (LoE 5) | 9.45 (1.19), 95% |
4. Clinical and contemporary imaging characteristics of the biopsied joints should be described in order to evaluate the generalisability and validity of the outcome. (LoE 4) | 8.95 (1.28), 90.5% |
5. Tissue handling and processing methods must be described in order to ensure reproducibility, including numbers and size of fragments allocated randomly to each analytic. (LoE 4) | 9.10 (1.64), 90.5% |
6. Method and results of tissue quality assessment should be reported, including the percentage of graded tissue. (LoE 5) | 9.33 (1.06), 90.5% |
| 9.48 (0.75), 100% |
8. Methods of extraction and quantification should be defined, and purity, quantity and quality of DNA/RNA should be reported (LoE 5). | 9.67 (0.58), 100% |
| 9.71 (0.56), 100% |
LoA, Level of agreement; LoE, Level of Evidence; SD, Standard deviation.