Abstract
Aims: Rosenow’s broth is an enriched liquid medium used at laboratory for culture of anaerobes. It has never been tested for transport and culture of bacteria, particularly those that are frequently involved in chronic prosthetic infections. This prospective study assessed these data. Methods: 154 intraoperative specimens and joint aspirations were harvested between 1998 and 2000 in 80 patients that had infected knee (24) or hip (56) prostheses. For each of the 154 specimens there was a standard and a Rosenow recipient. Culture obtained on agar medium was called “direct culture” (DC) and culture from any liquid medium was called after “enrichment” (AE). The similitude between bacteria isolated from different specimens was assessed. Results: A bacteria was isolated from DC in 59 specimens (38%) and after AE in 95 specimens (62%). Among the 59 positive DC there was agreement between standard and Rosenow in 87%, and no agreement in 13% [ Staphylococcus sp. (6), Pseudomonas sp.(1) Enterobacteriacae (1)]. Among the 95 cultures AE, Rosenow and standard cultures were in agreement in 41 (43,1%), only standard was positive in 13 (13,6%), but only Rosenow’s broth was positive in 41 (43,1%) with negative standard cultures [16 Staphylococcus sp(13 S. epidermidis), 5 Streptococcus sp., 2 Enterococcus sp., 1 Corynebacterium sp, 3 Enterobacteriacaeand 14 anaerobes]. Sensibility and predictive positive value of Rosenow were respectively 0.86 and 0.86. Conclusion: This study suggest the accuracy of the Rosenow’s broth for transport and culture as agreement was observed in 87% with the DC that is considered as the “gold standard”. When only cultures AE were positive, the Rosenow’s broth corrected the diagnosis in 43%, particularly for infections related to S. epidermidis-and anaerobes.
Theses abstracts were prepared by Professor Dr. Frantz Langlais. Correspondence should be addressed to him at EFORT Central Office, Freihofstrasse 22, CH-8700 Küsnacht, Switzerland.
