Imaging of Synovial Infections

Classic clinical signs of infectious arthritis are heat and swelling and rapid development of non weight-bearing lameness, often in less than 24 hours. The suspicion of joint infection increases if a predisposing risk factor is evident, such as prematurity, a high sepsis score, or multisystemic disease in a foal, and the presence of a wound over a joint, previous surgery or preceding joint injection in an adult horse. Diagnosis relies mainly on analysis of the synovial fluid, but imaging is important to confirm the presence of infection, to evaluate the soft tissues of the joint, to establish the presence of a communication between a synovial cavity and a penetrating injury, to look for septic bone involvement and to look for concurrent infection of ...