Acute phase reactants in evaluation and management of acute bone and joint infection in paediatrics patients

Abstract

Background: The study was conducted to evaluate Roll of Acute Phase Reactants in evaluation and management of Acute Bone and Joint infection in Paediatrics Patients.Material and Methods: Prospective Observational and interventional study of 30 patients at our centre Government Medical College and District Hospital, between age of 3 month to 14 yrs with suspected acute infection of bone or joint.Results: Staphylococcus aureus was the most common pathogen causing osteomyelitis/septic arthritis. In this study Conservative treatment with use of antibiotics remains the backbone of treatment supplemented by arthotomy. On day of admission mean CRP in both septic arthritis and acute osteomyelitis patients was significantly high compared to mean ESR. We have found an elevated CRP is a strong independent indicator of septic arthritis and acute osteomyelitis, and we have demonstrated its utility in simplifying diagnostic predictive models.Discussion and Conclusion: In present study of 30 patients with acute osteomyelitis or septic arthritis, the sensitivity of elevated ESR on admission to detect an osteoarticular infection was 93%. Using CRP alone gave only a slightly better sensitivity of 96%. But combining these two markers gave a sensitivity of 100%.