Abstract
Aim
Prosthetic Joint Infection (PJI) remains one of the leading cause for revision arthroplasty.1,2 Early recognition and appropriate initial treatment of early PJI with debridement, antibiotics and implant retention (DAIR) can eradicate infection on first attempt and prevent implant failure. We evaluated the outcome after one year of patients who were treated for an early PJI after primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA) or total hip arthroplasty (THA) with DAIR. Furthermore, we determined preoperative infection markers, microbiology, and treatment factors related to treatment failure after DAIR procedure.
Method
A retrospective cohort study was assembled with 91 patients undergoing DAIR after primary TKA or THP with a high suspicion of an early PJI. For all patients intraoperative cultures were obtained. Records were reviewed for demographic details, preoperative laboratory results, microbiological data, given treatment and postoperative follow-up. The primary outcome measure was infection-free implant survival at one year. Repeated DAIR was not considered as treatment failure.
Results
Following DAIR in early PJI the rate of infection-free implant survival was 83% (95% confidence intervals (CI) 79 to 91) at one year follow-up, including patients with multiple DAIR procedures. Univariate analysis indicate a higher failure rate in early PJI caused by Enterococcus faecalis (p=0.04). Multivariate analysis showed that a high C-reactive protein level (CRP >100) (odds ratio 7.5, 95% CI [1.4–39.7]) and multiple debridement procedures (≥2) (p=0.004, odds ratio 8.5, 95%CI [2.1–34.3]) were independently associated with treatment failure.
Conclusions
Significantly elevated preoperative serum inflammatory markers may indicate difficult-to-treat, fulminant infections. The winning team in the eradication of an early PJI on first attempt and prevent implant failure is adequate debridement and appropriate empiric antibiotics. To improve treatment success and prevent the need for multiple debridement procedures it is important to use the adequate debridement technique and to have knowledge about local bacterial resistance patterns. Inadequate use of debridement and/or antibiotics can contribute to treatment failure in early PJIs and consequently in saving the affected joint arthroplasty.
