Diagnosing Arthritis

No two cases of arthritis are exactly the same as like fingerprints. Your physician’s careful examination and studies will be important to your diagnosis, judging the results of therapy, and planning an ongoing treatment program that may include use of drugs, adequate rest, exercise, physical therapy, and a good, well-balanced diet, possibly surgery too. You will read about how these aspects of treatment may interact to help you to better health.

Arthrography is another procedure in which a special dye in injected to coat the cartilage before an X-ray is taken. The joint cavity thus can be seen by the physician and any damage to the cartilage surface can be determined. This procedure is not as widely used since the development of MRI.

Examination of Synovial Fluid

It can be of great value when the diagnosis is in doubt. Infection is excluded or detected by microscopic examination of a Gram stained smear and culture for bacterial products. In inflammatory joints disease the synovial fluid is of low viscosity, turbid, clots on standing and contains many cells.