title: Acute hematogenous septic arthritis of the knee in adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the factors associated with acute hematogenous septic arthritis of the knee in adults and to assess the outcome after open knee arthrotomy.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a prospective evaluation of 26 adult patients with acute nongonococcal septic arthritis of the knee presenting within 7 days. All patients underwent open knee arthrotomy, and final evaluation by means of Knee society score of the affected knee was compared with the contra lateral normal knee.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average duration of symptoms at the time of presentation was 3.9 days. Staphylococcus aureus was the commonest bacteria isolated in 17 (65.4 %) patients. The average duration of follow-up in our study was 18.5 months. In our study, Knee society score decreases as the age of the patient advances (P < 0.05) and also it was found to be low (P < 0.05) in the affected knee as compared to contra lateral normal knee.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study shows that age of the patient at presentation is critical as it shows significant reduction in knee score. This explains that the septic arthritis may contribute to the progression of age-related degeneration of the knee joint. There appears to be no definite contributing factors or conditions associated with acute hematogenous septic arthritis of the knee in adults, although further study may be warranted regarding this matter.
authors: Department of Orthopaedics, Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Dhanvantrinagar, Puducherry, 605006, India, sreenivas6@rediffmail.com.
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Sreenivas
authors: A R
authors: AR
authors: Nataraj
authors: Jagdish
authors: J
authors: Menon
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D001170:Arthritis, Infectious / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology / Q000601:surgery*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D016905:Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000601:surgery*; D016908:Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000382:microbiology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents