Inflammatory laboratory tests after joint replacement surgery

Objective criteria for suspected early postoperative infections after arthroplastic surgery are sparse. In order to establish the usual time course of some inflammatory laboratory values after hip and knee arthroplasty, these values were followed prospectively in nine patients. C-reactive protein in serum was normalised within about two weeks. On discharge 14 days postoperatively the erythrocyte sedimentation rate was still high (mean 64 mm/h), but at follow-up four months after operation it was restored to normal. The total blood leucocyte count remained essentially within normal limits throughout the postoperative period. The morning temperature was slightly raised, to about 38 degrees C in a few patients on the first and second days postoperatively, but was otherwise normal.