Septic Arthritis Clinical Pathway — Emergency Department

Synovial Fluid Interpretation

Positive	WBC > 50,000 or Gram Stain Positive	Treat as Pyogenic Arthritis
Equivocal	WBC 25-50,000	Consider clinical parameters Lyme Gonorrhea Tuberculosis Alternative diagnoses
Negative	WBC < 25,000	Toxic Synovitis Alternative diagnoses

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The clinical pathways are based upon publicly available medical evidence and/or a consensus of medical practitioners at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (“CHOP”) and are current at the time of publication. These clinical pathways are intended to be a guide for practitioners and may need to be adapted for each specific patient based on the practitioner’s professional judgment, consideration of any unique circumstances, the needs of each patient and their family, and/or the availability of various resources at the health care institution where the patient is located.

Accordingly, these clinical pathways are not intended to constitute medical advice or treatment, or to create a doctor-patient relationship between/among The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (“CHOP”), its physicians and the individual patients in question. CHOP does not represent or warrant that the clinical pathways are in every respect accurate or complete, or that one or more of them apply to a particular patient or medical condition. CHOP is not responsible for any errors or omissions in the clinical pathways, or for any outcomes a patient might experience where a clinician consulted one or more such pathways in connection with providing care for that patient.