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What to Tell Patients about the Risk of Infection after an Intra-Articular Injection
June 15 2017 5:00 AM ET — via RheumReports
A group from Denmark published their results of the risk of infection after either a steroid injection or a joint aspiration. The group reviewed their records from 2006 to 2013 and identified those patients who developed a septic arthritis within 30 days of the procedure. The diagnosis of septic arthritis was defined as a clinically inflamed joint and a positive synovial fluid culture.
In total, 22,370 procedures were recorded: 14,118 steroid injections and 8,252 arthrocenteses. Overall, 11 patients were recorded as having septic arthritis. This represents 0.08% of patients who received steroid injections. Therefore, in this population, the risk of infection after a glucocorticoid injection was about 1 in 1,250.
In this study, the risk factors for septic arthritis included advanced age and the presence of inflammatory arthritis.
This study gives us more confidence in what to tell our patients about the risk of infection after a joint injection or aspiration.
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About the Author
Dr. Andy Thompson
Dr. Andy Thompson is an Associate Professor at Western University and founder of Rheuminfo.com, Rheumtalks.com, and RheumReports.com.
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