ArticleInternational orthopaedics2020
Alpha-defensin lateral flow test does not appear to be useful in predicting shoulder periprosthetic joint infections.
Article in International orthopaedics, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Diagnostics of shoulder periprosthetic joint infections: a global survey.JSES international · 2026Article
- Diagnostic accuracy of the alpha-defensin lateral flow test in periprosthetic shoulder infection: a retrospective study.Clinics in shoulder and elbow · 2025Article
- Diagnostic accuracy of alpha-defensin ELISA and lateral flow assays for periprosthetic joint infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of bone and joint infection · 2025Review
- A Literature Review of Cutibacterium Acnes: From Skin Commensal to Pathogen in Shoulder Surgery.Cureus · 2024Review
- Profiling the Immune Response to Periprosthetic Joint Infection and Non-Infectious Arthroplasty Failure.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Article
- Radiological changes, infections and neurological complications after reverse shoulder arthroplasty related to different design types and their rates: Part II.EFORT open reviews · 2021Review
- Diagnosis of orthopaedic-implant-associated infections caused by slow-growing Gram-positive anaerobic bacteria - a clinical perspective.Journal of bone and joint infection · 2021Review
- Periprosthetic Infection After Reverse Shoulder Arthroplasty: a Review.Current reviews in musculoskeletal medicine · 2020Review
- Preoperative Skin Cultures Predict Periprosthetic Infections in Revised Shoulder Arthroplasties: A Preliminary Report.JB & JS open accessArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposePeriprosthetic joint infections (PJIs) remain a challenging complication after shoulder arthroplasty. The antimicrobial peptide α-defensin has been proposed as a new synovial fluid biomarker in diagnosing PJIs. To date, only little data are available on the diagnostic accuracy of α-defensin in shoulder PJIs; thus, we aimed to evaluate its diagnostic value in a cohort of patients with a suspected shoulder PJI.
methodsBetween June 2016 and June 2018, we prospectively enrolled patients with a diagnostic shoulder aspiration due to painful shoulder arthroplasty or planned revision surgery. PJI diagnostics were performed according to the Musculoskeletal Infection Society (MSIS) criteria. All patients with an antibiotic therapy within two weeks before enrollment, insufficient amount of synovial aspirate, or bloody aspiration were excluded. α-Defensin was measured in the synovial fluid using the α-defensin lateral flow (ADLF) test (Synovasure®).
resultsOut of 60 patients, we could include 29 (59% female) patients with a mean age of 70 (range, 50-92) years. A shoulder PJI was detected in five cases (Staphylococcus aureus, n = 2; Staphylococcus epidermidis, n = 2; Cutibacterium acnes, n = 1). The ADLF test was positive in seven out of 29 cases. According to the MSIS criteria, the ADLF test was false-negative in two patients and false-positive in four patients, resulting in sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive value of 60%, 83%, 43%, and 91%, respectively. The overall accuracy was 79%.
conclusionThe ALDF test does not appear to be useful in predicting shoulder PJIs but may be used as an additional diagnostic factor in rejecting these infections.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.