Evaluation of White Cell Count and Differential in Synovial Fluid for Diagnosing Infections after Total Hip or Knee Arthroplasty

BACKGROUND: The accuracy of synovial fluid (SF) white cell count (WCC) and polymorphonuclear (PMN) cell evaluation for predicting prosthetic joint infection (PJI) at the total hip arthroplasty (THA) or total knee arthroplasty (TKA) site is unknown. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to summarize the diagnostic validity of SF-WCC and SF-PMN for diagnosing PJI. METHODS: The MEDLINE, EMBASE, and OVID databases were searched for studies that had evaluated the diagnostic validity of SF-WCC and SF-PMN between January 1990 and May 2013. Meta-analysis methods were used to pool sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic odd ratios (DORs), the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC), positive likelihood ratios (PLR), negative likelihood ratios (NLR), and post-test probability. We also conducted heterogeneity, publication bias, subgroup, and meta-regression analyses. RESULTS: Fifteen articles (15 SF-WCC and 14 SF-PMN) that included a total of 2787 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were considered for analysis. The pooled sensitivity and specificity for PJI detection was 0.88 (95% confidence intervals [CI], 0.81–0.93) and 0.93 (95% CI, 0.88–0.96) for SF-WCC and 0.90 (95% CI, 0.84–0.93) and 0.88 (95% CI, 0.83–0.92) for SF-PMN, respectively. The AUC was 0.96 for SF-WCC and 0.95 for SF-PMN. PLR and NLR were 13.3 and 0.13 for SF-WCC, and 7.6 and 0.12 for SF-PMN, respectively. There was no evidence of publication bias. Low-clinical-scenario (pre-test probability, 20%) post-test probabilities were 3% for both negative SF-WCC and SF-PMN results. The subgroup analyses indicated that the sensitivity/specificity of THA were 0.73/0.96 for SF-WCC and 0.85/0.83 for SF-PMN, whereas those of TKA were 0.90/0.91 for SF-WCC and 0.90/0.88 for SF-PMN. We also found that collection of SF-WCC preoperatively had a higher sensitivity than that obtained intraoperatively (0.91 vs. 0.77). CONCLUSIONS: SF-WCC and SF-PMN have an adequate and clinically acceptable diagnostic value for detecting PJI, particularly after TKA.