Can we identify which patients are likely to have septic arthritis with borderline synovial fluid cell counts?

Liu, Boshen; Raffetto, Michael; Abbenhaus, Eric J.; Hautala, Gavin S.; Taylor, William R.; Bowers, Lucy; Matuszewski, Paul Edward

doi:10.5194/jbji-11-287-2026

Articles | Volume 11, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/jbji-11-287-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/jbji-11-287-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 11, issue 3

Original full-length article

|

19 May 2026

Original full-length article |

| 19 May 2026

Can we identify which patients are likely to have septic arthritis with borderline synovial fluid cell counts?

Boshen Liu, Michael Raffetto, Eric J. Abbenhaus, Gavin S. Hautala, William R. Taylor, Lucy Bowers, and Paul Edward Matuszewski

Metrics will be available soon.

Latest update: 19 May 2026

Short summary

This study aims to identify characteristics associated with septic arthritis in patients who have inconclusive laboratory findings. This would potentially allow for improved ability to identify a pathology that can be marked by ambiguity.

We found three characteristics associated with increased risk of septic arthritis. Additionally, we found that lowering historic thresholds may be appropriate in order to prevent missed or delayed diagnosis of a pathology with considerable morbidity.