Een stroomdiagram voor de diagnostiek van acute, niet-traumatische gewrichtsklachten op de kinderleeftijd, retrospectief toegepast bij 115 kinderen

- Acute, non-traumatic joint complaints during childhood can be caused by conditions which require a quick and adequate recognition and treatment as well as by conditions in which an expectant policy can be pursued.

- On the basis of certain data from the anamnesis, supplemented with findings from the physical examination it is often possible to arrive at a (probable) diagnosis.

- An algorithm was designed, the differential steps of which were: fever, C-reactive protein titre, involvement of the hip joint, the presence of extra-articular manifestations and the results of a full blood count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and imaging techniques.

- When this algorithm was retrospectively applied to the disease data of 115 children with acute, non-traumatic joint complaints, for whom the diagnosis in the status was taken as the gold standard, the correct diagnosis was established for every single child: for 98 (85.2) by the shortest route and for 17 (14.8) indirectly.

- In the case of 4 children, use of this algorithm would have led to unnecessary laboratory investigations and/or treatment. None of the diseases requiring immediate treatment were missed.