Objective The purpose of this study was to study the methods of how to puncture the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) cavity of rabbits and get the synovia.Methods The anthors punctured joint cavity and withdrew the synovia from bilateral TMJ cavities of 12 NewZealand rabbitswith differentmethods, such as the traditional puncture method, improved puncture, puncture under X ray, puncture guided by ultrasonography and spiral CT, and withdrawing synovia by micropump.Results Only one cavity was successfully punctured using the traditional puncture method. A total of 4 cases were successfully punctured using the improved method. X ray and ultrasonography did not locate the TMJ cavity precisely. The spiral CThelped observation and puncture. Howev- er, the above methods did notwork in collecting synovia. The method of micropumpwithdrewsynovia successfully.Conclusion The improved method and spiral CT are efficient methods to precisely puncture TMJ cavity. The technique of micropump successfully re- solves the problem of withdrawing synovia.
