Arthritis Diagnosis from Infrared Spectroscopy of Synovial Fluid

1 Arthritis Diagnosis from Infrared Spectroscopy of Synovial Fluid 

Synovial fluid is an ultrafiltrate of blood plasma that serves to transport nutrients to cartilage as well as to lubricate the joints. It is readily available for diagnostic testing (the 

Two studies have suggested that the IR spectra of synovial fluid specimens provide the basis to diagnose arthritis and to differentiate among its variants.A NIR study demonstrated that osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and spondyloarthropathy could be distinguished on the basis of the synovial fluid absorption patterns in the range 2000-2400 nm. In that case, the pool of synovial fluid spectra was subject to principal component analysis, and eight principal component scores for each spectrum were employed as the basis for linear discriminant analysis (LDA). On that basis, the optimal LDA classifier matched 105 of the 109 spectra to the correct clinical designation (see Table 7). 

Although applications of this type are not analytical in the traditional sense, they may provide analytical information indirectly. The successful classification of IR spectra according to disease type implies that the composition of the specimen is altered in a characteristic fashion with the onset of disease - in this case the synovial fluid make-up reflects the presence and type of arthritis. This is an intriguing finding, particularly as it is very unlikely that the IR spectra are detecting any particular constituent that cannot be (and has not been) assayed 

2 Disease Pattern Recognition in Mid-infrared Spectra of Sernm 

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