| Indications | | Rheumatoid arthritis, persistent activity in large- or medium-sized joints in which injection may slow erosion | | Other inflammatory arthritides erosive or not, but particularly if oligoarticular, eg, Reiters, gout, psoriatic arthritis, other spondyloarthropathy | | Osteoarthritis of large weightbearing joint (knee) with bone on bone pain and eventual total joint arthroplasty planned or accepted already | | Small joint osteoarthritis, eg, of the first carpometacarpal, especially with slight inflammatory component on physical exam | | Subdeltoid bursitis or rotator cuff tendonitis, first presentation or already investigated radiologically | | | Relative contraindications | | Rheumatoid arthritis in small joints of hand in which soft tissue support is necessary to prevent deformity is subject to atrophy | | Rheumatoid arthritis, one joint out of proportion to others; infection suspect, culture on first athrocentesis before injection | | Other monoarthritis suspected of sepsis, especially in diabetes | | Early osteoarthritis in which cartilage repair may be important | | Small joint osteoarthritis which failed to respond for six weeks to previous injection | | Subacute shoulder pain not responsive to previous injection | |
