Diagnosis of septic arthritis in the acute care setting: the value of routine intra-operative sample culture.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Diagnosing septic arthritis can be challenging and frequently involves clinical assessment, laboratory investigations and synovial fluid analysis. We sought to determine the utility of synovial aspiration and intra-operative synovial fluid and tissue culture for the accurate diagnosis of septic arthritis.

Methods

We carried out a retrospective review of the records of patients referred to a tertiary orthopaedic unit with possible septic arthritis between 2015 and 2019 inclusive, including clinical and laboratory data for this cohort study. Performance characteristics were determined for synovial aspiration, intra-operative synovial fluid and tissue culture in diagnosing expert review-determined true septic arthritis. Concordance between discharge diagnosis, antibio

SUBMITTER: Shamdasani P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10036992 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature