ArticleExperimental and therapeutic medicine2014
Procalcitonin levels in fresh serum and fresh synovial fluid for the differential diagnosis of knee septic arthritis from rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and gouty arthritis.
Article in Experimental and therapeutic medicine, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assessment and diagnosis of the acute hot joint: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2023Pooled it
- Use of Synofast® in routine rheumatology practice: diagnostic performance and impact on management of an acute arthritis.Advances in rheumatology (London, England) · 2025Article
- Effects of different exercise levels on serum trace element concentrations.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Determining the accuracy of the leukocyte esterase reagent strip test in the rapid diagnosis of adult septic arthritis.Advances in rheumatology (London, England) · 2024Article
- Role of serum and synovial procalcitonin in differentiating septic from non-septic arthritis- a prospective study.Journal of clinical orthopaedics and trauma · 2022Article
- Wear of hip prostheses increases serum IGFBP-1 levels in patients with aseptic loosening.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Combining Calcitonin and Procalcitonin and Rheumatoid Arthritis-Related Biomarkers Improve Diagnostic Outcomes in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis.Disease markers · 2021Article
- Value of serum procalcitonin for the diagnosis of bacterial septic arthritis in daily practice in rheumatology.Clinical rheumatology · 2019Article
- Article
- Osteosarcoma of the Proximal Femur Mimicking Septic Arthritis of the Hip: A diagnostic dilemma.Sultan Qaboos University medical journal · 2018Article
- Procalcitonin may not be a differential diagnostic marker for bacterial infection in febrile patients with chronic gouty arthritis.The Journal of international medical research · 2018Observational
- Comparison of Synovial Fluid and Serum Procalcitonin for Diagnosis of Periprosthetic Joint Infection: A Pilot Study in 32 Patients.BioMed research international · 2018Article
- Review
- Procalcitonin-guided diagnosis and antibiotic stewardship revisited.BMC medicine · 2017Review
- Serum Procalcitonin as a Useful Serologic Marker for Differential Diagnosis between Acute Gouty Attack and Bacterial Infection.Yonsei medical journal · 2016Article
- Utility of blood procalcitonin concentration in the management of cancer patients with infections.OncoTargets and therapy · 2016Review
- High Level Serum Procalcitonin Associated Gouty Arthritis Susceptibility: From a Southern Chinese Han Population.PloS one · 2015Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Whether the levels of procalcitonin (PCT) in the serum and synovial fluid are effective indicators for distinguishing septic arthritis (SA) from non-infectious arthritis remains controversial. The present study aimed to evaluate whether PCT levels in fresh serum or fresh joint fluid may be used in the differential diagnosis of SA from rheumatoid arthritis (RA), osteoarthritis (OA) and gouty arthritis (GA). From January 2012 to June 2013, 23 patients with knee SA, 21 patients with RA, 40 patients with OA and 11 patients with GA were enrolled in the current study. The levels of PCT were measured within 24 h after specimen collection at room temperature. An enzyme-linked fluorescence assay (ELFA) was used to detect the levels of PCT in the serum and synovial fluid. The correlations between the levels of PCT in the serum and synovial fluid and the arthritic patient groups were determined by the Nemenyi test. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were calculated to evaluate the accuracy of the correlations. The levels of PCT in the serum and joint fluid of the patients in the SA group were higher compared with those of the other groups (P<0.01) and there were no significant differences among the RA, OA and GA groups in these levels. A PCT level of <0.5 μg/l in the serum and synovial fluid had high specificity in the differential diagnosis of SA from RA, OA and GA. Synovial fluid PCT revealed significantly greater sensitivity than serum PCT. The accuracy of the differential diagnosis of SA by the serum levels of PCT was significantly lower than that by the synovial fluid levels of PCT. The levels of PCT in the serum and synovial fluid may be used as alternative laboratory indicators to distinguish between SA and the non-infectious types of arthritis; however, the PCT levels in fresh synovial fluid are more sensitive and accurate indicators than PCT levels in fresh serum.
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