The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Vol 77, Issue 2 258-265, Copyright © 1995 by Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc
Evaluation of treatment modalities for septic arthritis with histological grading and analysis of levels of uronic acid, neutral protease, and interleukin-1
KD Nord, DD Dore, VF Deeney, AL Armstrong, PJ Cundy, BF Cole and MG Ehrlich
Clinical Investigation Facility, Wilford Hall United States Air Force Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas 78326-5300.
We compared the effectiveness of antibiotics alone and in combination with
arthroscopy, arthroscopy with debridement, arthrotomy, or needle aspiration
for the treatment of septic arthritis. Each modality has its proponents,
but, to our knowledge, no comparative studies have been conducted in
animals. We used biochemical and histological analysis to compare these
methods of treatment in an experimental model. The right hind knee of
thirty goats was injected with 1 x 10(5) Staphylococcus aureus bacilli. The
left hind knee was not inoculated and served as the normal control.
Seventy-two hours after inoculation, a two-week course of treatment with
intramuscular administration of cefuroxime sodium, either alone or in
combination with another mode of treatment, was initiated in each of five
groups. The cartilage was evaluated histologically with biochemical,
enzymatic, and interleukin-1 analyses. Despite the early therapeutic
intervention, on the average, there was a 25 per cent loss of uronic acid
(t test, p < 0.001) and a 43 per cent increase in neutral protease
activity (signed-rank test, p = 0.003) in the treatment groups. There were
no significant intergroup differences with regard to the
histochemical-histological rating or the levels of uronic acid, neutral
protease, or interleukin-1.