Alpha-Defensin and Synovial Proteins to Improve Detection of Pediatric Septic Arthritis

Recruiting now · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Joint Infection, Infection of Hip Joint (Disorder), Infection of Shoulder Joint, Septic Arthritis

In brief

Differentiating between septic arthritis and other causes of joint inflammation in pediatric patients is challenging and of the utmost importance because septic arthritis requires surgical debridement as part of the treatment regimen. The current gold standard to diagnose septic arthritis in children is a positive synovial fluid culture; however, joint cultures may take several days to return. If a bacterial infection is present, it requires immediate surgical intervention in order to prevent lasting articular cartilage damage. Frequently surgeons must decide whether to surgically debride a joint before culture results are available. There is no single lab test or clinical feature that reliably indicates bacterial infection over other causes of joint inflammation. The alpha-defensin assay has shown high sensitivity and specificity for joint infection in other studies.The purpose of this study is to determine the sensitivity and specificity of several synovial biomarkers for diagnosing pediatric septic arthritis.

Key facts

Study ID
NCT03704766
Run by
Hospital for Special Surgery, New York
People needed
442
Starts
2016-06-28
Expected to finish
2027-01-01
Last updated by the study team
2026-07-29

Who can join

Age: any, up to 17. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

Where it is running

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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