De. Muirhead et al., A LIGHT AND ULTRASTRUCTURAL-STUDY OF RICE BODIES RECOVERED FROM A CASE OF DATE THORN-INDUCED EXTRAARTICULAR SYNOVITIS, Ultrastructural pathology, 22(4), 1998, pp. 341-347
Rice bodies are most commonly found in inflammatory joints of patients
with rheumatoid arthritis and have traditionally been considered to b
e a nonspecific response to inflammatory synovial disease. In the pres
ent study 18 rice bodies were found in the tibialis tendon sheath of a
nine-year-old Omani boy subsequent to a date thorn injury. The rice b
odies consisted of three major components: fibrin, collagen, and fibro
blasts. In contrast to the findings of other authors there were no typ
e A, B, or C synoviocytes, cartilage, or vascularisation of the rice b
ody. At this extra-articulate site it would appear that rice bodies ar
e composed chiefly of fibrin and that the fibrosis of the rice body oc
curs as a result of the entrapment of fibroblasts, which subsequently
produce collagen. These findings shed doubt on the synovial origin of
rice bodies and suggest that rice bodies may have multiple origins, de
pending on their location. This is the first ultrastructural study of
rice bodies associated with a date thorn injury.