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Showing posts with the label One joint affected by pain

One joint affected by pain, swelling, overlying redness, stiffness and local heat

Monoarthritis One joint affected by pain, swelling, overlying redness, stiffness and local heat (±fever). Acute septic arthritis Suggested by: extremely painful, hot red joint, high fever. Confirmed by: increased  WBC . Joint aspiration: synovial fluid turbid. Culture growing staphylococcus or streptococcus or pseudomonas or gonococci or TB, etc. Gout Suggested by: one acutely inflamed joint (usually small esp. big toe) at a time, but other joints in hands, arms, legs, and feet deformed. Tophi on ears and tendon sheaths. Confirmed by: serum urate Increase ( not always). Urate crystals (negatively birefringent in plane-polarised light) present on joint aspiration . Pseudogout (Ca 2+ pyrophosphate arthropathy/ chondrocalcinosis) Suggested by: one painful joint (usually knee) especially in elderly or history of hyperparathyroidism or myxoedema or osteoarthritis or haemochro-matosis or acromegaly. Confirmed by: joint aspiration: synovi