Presence of Birefringent, Maltese-Cross-appearing Spherules in Synovial Fluid in a Case of Acute Monoarthritis

[摘要] A 31-year-old Caucasian male presented to our hospital with an acute and painful swelling of the left knee joint. Two days before swelling was noted, he had played soccer but had no pain before the swelling occurred. After 2 days of pain, the patient was seen in our hospital. On examination in the department of orthopedics, no signs of meniscal or cruciate ligament tears were found, and the knee was not painful on palpation, although it was painful on bending.Aspiration of the knee joint yielded 100 mL of orange-colored fluid, containing 8100 leukocytes/μL (63% neutrophils). The synovial fluid (SF) contained 19 μmol hemoglobin/L (reference value in blood, 8.5–11 mmol/L) and 8800 erythrocytes/μL (reference value in blood, 4.2–5.6 × 106/μL). Because no signs of trauma were observed, the minor amount …

[学科分类] 过敏症与临床免疫学