EULAR/EFORT Recommendations for the diagnosis and initial management of patients with acute or recent onset swelling of the
knee
- R BM Landewé (r.landewe{at}mumc.nl)
- Maastricht University Medical Center, Netherlands
- KP Günther (klaus-peter.guenther{at}uniklinikum-dresden.de)
- Universitätsklinikum Carl Gustav Carus, Germany
- C Lukas (cedriclukas{at}voila.fr)
- Hopital Lapeyronie, France
- J Braun (j.braun{at}rheumazentrum-ruhrgebiet.de)
- Rheumazentrum Ruhrgebiet, Germany
- B Combe (b-combe{at}chu-montpellier.fr)
- Hopital Lapeyronie, France
- P G Conaghan (p.conaghan{at}leeds.ac.uk)
- Chapel Allerton Hospital, United Kingdom
- K Dreinhöfer (karsten.dreinhoefer{at}uni-ulm.de)
- Universität Ulm, Germany
- D Fritschy (daniel.fritschy{at}hcuge.ch)
- Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève, Switzerland
- J Getty (info{at}johngetty.co.uk)
- British Orthopaedic Association, United Kingdom
- H JL van der Heide (h.j.l.van_der_heide{at}lumc.nl)
- Leiden University Medical Center, Netherlands
- T K Kvien (t.k.kvien{at}medisin.uio.no)
- Diakonhjemmet Sykehus, Norway
- K Machold (klaus.machold{at}meduniwien.ac.at)
- Universitätsklinik für Innere Medizin, Austria
- C Mihai (crmihai{at}pcnet.ro)
- Cantacuzino Hospital, Romania
- M Mosconi (mariomosconi{at}yahoo.it)
- Clinica Ortopedica e Traumatologica, Italy
- R Nelissen (r.g.h.h.nelissen{at}lumc.nl)
- Leiden University Medical Center, Netherlands
- E Pascual (pascual_eli{at}gva.es)
- Hospital general universitario de Alicante, Spain
- K Pavelka (pavelka{at}revma.cz)
- N.A., Czech Republic
- M Pileckyte (pmargarita{at}one.lt)
- Hospital of Kaunas University of Medicine, Lithuania
- W Puhl (wolfhart.puhl{at}efort.org)
- Klinik Oberstdorf, Austria
- L Punzi (punzireu{at}unipd.it)
- Medical School University of Padova, Italy
- W Rüther (ruether{at}r-on-klinik.de)
- Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany
- M San-Julian (msjulian{at}unav.es)
- Universidad de Navarra, Spain
- C Tudisco (cosimo.tudisco{at}uniroma2.it)
- University of Rome, Italy
- R Westhovens (rene.westhovens{at}uz.kuleuven.ac.be)
- Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
- E Witso (eivind.witso{at}stolav.no)
- Norwegian Orthopaedic Association, Norway
- D M.F.M. van der Heijde (d.vanderheijde{at}kpnplanet.nl)
- Leiden University Medical Center, Netherlands
- Published Online First 15 January 2009
Abstract
Objectives: The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) and the European Federation of National Associations of Orthopaedics and Traumatology
(EFORT) have recognized the importance of variation in diagnostic and therapeutic performance across disciplines, have found
consensus in starting task forces aiming at achieving diagnostic and therapeutic uniformity, and have identified medical conditions
with which representatives of both organizations will frequently be confronted in common clinical practice.
The aim was to establish recommendations for the diagnosis and initial management of patients presenting with acute or recent
onset swelling of the knee.
Methods and results: The EULAR standard operating procedures for the elaboration and implementation of evidence-based recommendations were followed.
Eleven rheumatologists from 11 countries and 12 orthopedic surgeons from 7 countries met twice under the leadership of two
conveners, a clinical epidemiologist and a research fellow. After carefully defining the content and procedures of the task
force, research questions were developed, a comprehensive literature search was performed and the results were presented to
the entire committee. Subsequently, a set of 10 recommendations was formulated based on evidence from the literature if available,
and after discussion and consensus building.
Conclusion: This is the first combined interdisciplinary project of rheumatologists and orthopedic surgeons, successfully aiming at achieving
consensus in the diagnosis and initial management of patients presenting with acute or recent onset swelling of the knee.
