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- Page navigation anchor for RE: Tuberculous monoarthritis of the knee jointRE: Tuberculous monoarthritis of the knee joint
Case reports such as this help prevent uncommon conditions from becoming forever irretrievable in our memory catacombs. I would like to offer some additional points.
In my clinical experience, a negative TB skin test does not exclude the diagnosis of TB arthritis.
Maybe 50% of patients with knee TB will show no signs of prior TB on plain chest Xray.(1)
Microbiological analysis (stains and culture) of synovial fluid have a much lower positive yield than similar studies of synovium.(1) Synovial stains and histology may give strong diagnostic clues rapidly rather than waiting for slow confirmatory culture results.
Ultrasound guided needle biopsy of synovium should be considered early to aid in diagnosis of all low grade pathogen joint infections such as mycobacterium tuberculosis.Competing Interests: None declared.References
- 2. Berney S, Goldstein M, Bishko F. Clinical and Diagnostic Features of Tuberculous Arthritis. Am J Med 1972;53:36-42.