title: Acute monarthritis: diagnosis and management.
abstract: The diagnosis for an acute monarthritis may still be elusive, even after an extensive initial evaluation. For example, what should be done for a patient who has a paucity of extra-articular findings on physical examination and an inflammatory synovial fluid with negative Gram's stain, cultures, and crystals? Conservative management is always prudent. Assume the joint is infected and treat as such until proven otherwise, because infection carries the highest morbidity and mortality of all the common acute monarthopathies.
authors.affiliation: Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 10 South Pine Street, MSTF 834, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. emaury@gmail.com
authors.forename: Erinn E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Maury
authors.forename: Raymond H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Flores
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D001168:Arthritis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D010808:Physical Examination; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed