Acute hot joints on the medical take: tapping into the skills of our workforce

Abstract

D EAR E DITOR , Acute oligoarthritis is a common presentation to secondary care, with septic arthritis the most serious cause. The inpatient mortality from septic arthritis is 7–15%, despite antibiotics use [1]. Bacterial arthritis in the UK has an incidence of 1 in 49 000/100 000 person-years [2]. Arthrocentesis remains the gold standard in differentiating septic from non-septic causes. Prompt diagnosis of acute oli-goarthritis remains fundamental in avoiding unnecessary antibiotics and reducing hospital admissions [3]. Acute oli-goarthritis is managed by medical teams in many National Health Service (NHS) hospitals. Additionally, more common causes of acute hot joints, e.g. gout and pseudogout, often arise in elderly and multimorbid patients, in whom an important differential is septic arthritis, highlighting the need for urgent arthrocentesis.