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Synovial Fluid Leukocyte Count and Differential Are Poor Standalone Rule-in Tests for Periprosthetic Joint Infection: Results of a Methodological Audit and Reanalysis of the 2025 Meta-analysis Underpinning the Unified Periprosthetic Joint Infection Criteria.
Clinical orthopaedics and related research·June 3, 2026·PMID 42233696
Why it mattersOrthopedic surgeons and infectious disease specialists rely on synovial fluid analysis to diagnose PJI. If widely adopted, the previously proposed standalone thresholds could lead to overdiagnosis and unnecessary revision surgeries. This reappraisal provides corrected performance estimates and cautions against using these tests in isolation.
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