BACKGROUND Early detection followed by prompt intervention is essential for the treatment of periprosthetic joint infection (PJI). D-dimer, a fibrin degradation product, characteristically changes rapidly during early postoperative period and has a short half-life. The aim of this prospective study was to measure postoperative change of D-dimer level after joint arthroplasty in conjunction with...

BACKGROUND Patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) on non-steroidal anti- inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may experience abdominal pain. In adults, NSAID use has been linked to an increase in fecal calprotectin (FC) levels, a surrogate marker for gut inflammation. In JIA, data on gut inflammation related to drug use is scarce. METHODS JIA patients followed up at the outpatient pediatric...

INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to examine the associations of elevated serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) with change in muscle strength in patients with established knee osteoarthritis (OA), at 2 years. METHODS Data from 186 patients with knee OA were gathered at baseline and at 2-year follow-up. CRP (in milligrams per liter) and ESR (in millimete...

Dear Editor Leucocytoclastic vasculitis (LCV) is a necrotizing vasculitis that complicates infections, malignancies, and collagen vascular diseases and can also occur as a reaction to medications (1). It is difficult to distinguish clinically from a drug eruption.We present a case of drug rash resembling LCV. Diagnosis was established by skin biopsy and responded to prompt discontinuation of th...

OBJECTIVE To compare the diagnostic utility of laboratory variables, including matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3), anticyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) antibodies, rheumatoid factor (RF), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP) in patients with erosive and non-erosive rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS We assembled a training set, consisting of 60 patients with RA...

Background: Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) tests are often done to detect or monitor patients with suspected inflammatory disorders. The objective of the study was to ascertain if the manual ESR test added value to the information available from automated CRP results alone. Methods: In this retrospective, observational study at a safety-net hospital, the ESR a...

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the value of perioperative tests for the diagnosis of infectionin revision shoulder arthroplasty.Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 537 shoulder arthroplasties (429 patients) that underwent revisionshoulder arthroplasty at our institution. Periprosthetic tissue cultures were positive in 169/537 surgeries.Results: White-blood ...

The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) is one of the commonest clinical tests used to screen for the presence of a disease state or to follow up its activity. It is a standard test for monitoring inflammatory disease processes. However, factors unrelated to the presence or absence of inflammation may limit its usefulness. This is often the case in ch ronic renal disease where the ESR may be p...