Right knee arthrocentesis reveals 55,000 WBCs, 80% PMNs, Gram stain negative, and the presence of needle-shaped negatively birefringent crystals in PMNs. Culture at 48 hours was negative. Serum ...

Numerous negatively birefringent needle-shaped monosodium urate crystals are detected by compensated polarized-light microscopy (original magnification ×40).

Birefringence Determination in Objects of Irregular Cross-sectional Shape and Constant Weight per Unit Length S. C. SIMMENS 1 Nature volume 181 , pages 1260–1261 ( 1958 ) Cite this article ...

In Group B (gout), all the sections stained with NAES method demonstrated needle-shaped, negatively birefringent crystals with pointed ends, consistent with MSU; however, none of these sections ...