Prassinos N.N., Sideri K.I., Polizopoulou Z.S.

Synovial fluid analysis is an integral part of the diagnostic approach of joint disorders in companion animal medicine. It mainly helps the veterinarian to differentiate inflammatory from non-inflammatory and infectious from non-infectious joint diseases. Routine synovial fluid analysis should include evaluation of the physical characteristics, cytologic and microbiologic examination, mucin clot test and total protein concentration, while specialized tests (glucose concentration, enzyme levels, crystals, pH, immunological studies) are also performed occasionally. This paper describes the methodology of synovial fluid analysis and discusses its interpretation.

Key words: synovial fluid, dog, cat

Volume 56 (No3 p. 239-248) / 2005