No abstract

Suppurative arthritis in a Charcot's joint is rare. Four patients with this complication were observed; in all of them infection was due to Staphylococcus pyogenes. Both knees were infected in one patient but in the other three the process was monoarticular. The infection appears to have been born by the lymphatic or vascular channels to the joint with the possible exception of one knee of the patient with bilateral involvement where invasion from neighboring tissues could not be excluded.