How can you know if you have an infection in your knee after having a partial knee replacement?

Pain and Swelling: Infections in joint replacements can be very hard to diagnose. Generally, doctors with use blood tests, radiographic tests, aspirations (a tap of the fluid in the knee) and some times biopsies to determine if there is an infection.

Consult your surgeon: Swelling, redness and pain are very common after partial or total knee replacement. Aggressive icing and elevation should improve these problems. If not, or if you continue to run a fever, have drainage from the wound, or increasing pain, a visit to your surgeon is very important. Your family doctor or the E.R. May put you on antibiotics, which can make diagnosis difficult. Call your surgeon.

Get to your surgeon!: The clinical findings that are concerning for an infected knee are: 1. Redness/pinkness around the incision or knee. 2. Increased swelling around knee 3. Increased pain with bending or weight bearing 4. Fever, chills, lethargy, loss of appetite 5. A knee draining fluid from the incision or a new hole 6. Blood tests with elevated wbc, crp, esr. See your surgeon with any concern asap, don't wait!

Pain, swelling: A infection after a partial or full knee replacement usually results in persistent pain, swelling, redness, increased warmth and/or fever. Most patients have 1-2 of these symptoms/signs, but rarely have all of them, especially if a chronic injection. A physical exam, draining fluid from around the prosthesis, lab work and tests such as a special bone scan can help in diagnosing an infection.

Red swollen hot pain: The clinical findings that are concerning for an infected knee are: 1. Redness/pinkness around the incision or knee. 2. Increased swelling around knee 3. Increased pain with bending or weight bearing 4. Fever, chills, lethargy, loss of appetite 5. A knee draining fluid from the incision or a new hole 6. Blood tests with elevated wbc, crp, esr. See your surgeon with any concern asap, don't wait!

Persistent pain: Persistent pain swelling and a feeling of being unwell are signs to watch for in cases of infection after replacments.

Red, pain, drainage: The common signs of an infection can include the following: -fever -redness around the incision -swelling with redness -drainage from a red and swollen knee -pain with weight bearing in a red swollen knee -blood test that show an elevated WBC count, elevated c-reactive protein, elevated esr - the gold standard is to drain fluid out of the knee and send it to the lab for gram stain and culture.