RT Journal
A1 Pignatti, Giovanni
T1 Diagnosis of Periprosthetic Infection
JF The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery
JO The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery
YR 2010
FD February 1
VO 92
IS 2
SP 524
OP 524
DO 
UL http://dx.doi.org/
AB 
I read the paper by Bauer et al. entitled "Current Concepts Review. Diagnosis of Periprosthetic Infection" (2006;88:869-82). On page 873, it is reported that "…Spangehl et al.1 prospectively evaluated several different diagnostic tests that had been performed in a series of 202 revision hip arthroplasties. If inflammatory arthropathies were excluded, the erythrocyte sedimentation rate was found to have a sensitivity of 82% and a specificity of 85%. The predictive value of a negative test was only 58%, while the predictive value of a positive result was 95%. The C-reactive protein level was found to be a better indicator of infection than the erythrocyte sedimentation rate, with the C-reactive protein level having a sensitivity of 86%, a specificity of 92%, and predictive values for negative and positive tests of 74% and 99%, respectively."