It is important to underscore the clinician’s responsibility to always rule out infection while pursuing other possible etiologies. High index of suspicion for CPPD is needed in patients older than 65, even in light of other data that may be mistakenly interpreted as evidence of septic joint, including a high synovial WBC count, absence of chondrocalcinosis and improvement on antibiotics, as we observed in our patient.
Hassan Fakhoury, BS, is a student at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tenn.
Erin Chew, MD, is a fellow in the Department of Rheumatology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tenn.
Narender Annapureddy, MBBS, is an associate professor of medicine, Department of Rheumatology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tenn.
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