Aim. We aimed to evaluate the impact of knee periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) by assessing the patients’ long-term quality of life and explicitly their psychological wellbeing after successful treatment. Method. Thirty-six patients with achieved eradication of infection after knee PJI were included. Quality of life was evaluated with the EQ-5D and SF-36 outcome instruments as well as with an ICD-10 based symptom rating (ISR) and compared to normative data. Results. At a follow-up of 4.9± 3.5 years the mean SF-36 score was 24.82± 10.0 regarding the physical health component and 46.16± 13.3 regarding the mental health component compared to German normative values of 48.36± 9.4 (p< .001) and 50.87± 8.8 (p= .003). The mean EQ-5D index reached 0.55± 0.33 with an EQ-5D VAS rating of 52.14± 19.9 compared to reference scores of 0.891 (p< .001) and 68.6± 1.1 (p< .001). Mean scores of the ISR revealed psychological symptom burden on the depression scale. Conclusions. PJI patients still suffer from significant lower quality of life compared to normative data even years after surgically successful treatment. Future clinical studies should focus on patient-related outcome measures. Newly emerging treatment strategies, prevention methods and interdisciplinary approaches should be implemented to improve the quality of life of PJI patients

Aim

The aim of the study was to assess the accuracy of the alpha defensin lateral flow test for diagnosis of periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) using an optimized diagnostic algorithm and three classification systems. In addition, we compared the performance with synovial fluid leukocyte count, the most sensitive preoperative test.

Introduction

Tranexamic acid (TXA) has been shown to decrease hemoglobin loss and reduce the need for transfusions in primary hip and knee arthroplasty. Recently, authors have proven similar results in revision total knee arthroplasty (TKA). No previous paper has focused on the safety and efficacy of TXA for revision TKA for periprosthetic joint infection (PJI). The purpose of our study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of topical TXA in revision TKA for PJI.

Aim

Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a major complication of prosthetic implantation and needs a combined surgical and antimicrobial treatment. One-stage revision results usually in similar cure rate than two-stage (around 85–92%), but antibiotic therapy duration is not well established. The aim of study was to evaluate the efficacy of a short six-weeks antibiotic course in hip and knee PJIs after one-stage replacement arthroplasty (RA).

Background. Fungal infection at an arthroplasty site is rare and poses a therapeutic challenge. To the best of our knowledge, no reports have been published thus far on the success rate of prosthesis reimplantation after fungal prosthetic joint infections. Questions/purposes. We asked: (1) What is the success rate in terms of infection eradication using a two-stage exchange arthroplasty in patients with hip or knee fungal periprosthetic joint infections, particularly focusing on Candida infections? (2) What patient-, infection-, and treatment-related variables are associated with the success or failure of treatment?. Methods. From January 2000 to December 2010, 16 patients with hip or knee candidal periprosthetic joint infections were treated with two-stage exchange arthroplasty at our institute. Treatment success was defined as a well-functioning joint without relapse of candidal infection after prosthesis reimplantation, while treatment failure was defined as uncontrolled or a relapse of candidal infection or mortality. Variables, including age, sex, comorbidities, microbiology, antimicrobial agents used, and operative methods, were analyzed. Minimum followup was 28 months (mean, 41 months; range, 28–90 months). Results. At latest followup, the treatment failed to eradicate the infection in eight of the 16 patients, and there were four deaths related to fungemia. Four patients required permanent resection arthroplasty owing to uncontrolled or recurrent candidal infections. All eight patients (50% successful rate) who had their infections eradicated and successful prosthesis reimplantation had prolonged treatment with oral fluconazole before (mean, 8 months) and after (mean, 2.2 months) prosthesis reimplantation. The antifungal therapy correlated with successful treatment. Renal insufficiency, hypoalbuminemia, anemia, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were significantly more prevalent in the treatment-failure group than in the treatment-success group. Conclusions. Half of the patients treated with two-stage exchange arthroplasty for fungal periprosthetic joint infections had recurrence or lack of control of the infection. A prolonged antifungal therapy appeared to be essential for successful treatment of candidal periprosthetic joint infections. The presence of renal insufficiency, hypoalbuminemia, anemia, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease might be associated with a poor outcome

Aim. Dalbavancin is a novel second-generation lipoglycopeptide antibiotic with strong activity against many gram-positive bacteria and a prolonged half-life of 6–11 days. This allows a once-a-week intravenous application and therefore an outpatient intravenous therapy. Currently, only little is known about the use of Dalbavancin in Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI). The aim of this retrospective study, was to compare the outcome of hip and knee periprosthetic joint infections (PJI) in patients who received dalbavancin (DAL) with patients which was treated by standard of care antimicrobial agents (SoC). Methods. Between 02/2017 and 02/2020 a total of 89 (42 male/47 female) patients with PJI of the hip 56/89 (62.9%) and knee 33/89 (37.1%) who received at least one dosage of Dalbavancin were included. A 1:1 propensity-score (PS) matching between the DAL-group (n=89) and the SoC-group (n=89) was performed, using defined demographic covariates such as body-mass-index, age, sex, causative pathogens, knee or hip joint and infection after primary or revision surgery, surgical site infections, Charlson-comorbidity index and the types of infection (acute, late acute and chronic). Patient's demographics were analysed by our prospectively maintained institutional arthroplasty registry and PJI database. We analysed the outcome of the included patients evaluate the re-infection and re-revision rate and gave details about surgical management and the type of PJI with a minimum follow-up of one year. Results. Microbiological and clinical successes were achieved in 69 (77.5%) patients of the DAL-group and in 66 (74.2%) patients of the SoC-group. In the DAL-group 13 (14.6%) and in the SoC-group 12 (13.5%) patients had an infection related re-revision. Median follow-up was 706 (369; 1310) days in the DAL-group and 1329 (9; 3,549) days in the SoC-group. Overall, polymicrobial infections were found in 20 procedures (DAL-group: 10; SoC-group: 10) and monomicrobial infections in 154 (DAL-group: 75; SoC-group: 79). Polymicrobial infections were found in 20 patients and monomicrobial infections in 154. The most common microorganisms were Staphylococcus epidermidis n=63 (32.3%), Staphylococcus aureus n=27 (13.8%) and Cutibacterium spp. n=22 (11.3%). There are significantly less Gram-positive microorganisms (p=0.034) after re-revisions in patients with DAL treatment. Conclusions. Dalbavancin has excellent safety and high clinical effectiveness for Gram-positive PJIs

Background. The clinical benefit of chronic suppression with oral antibiotics as a salvage treatment for periprosthetic joint infection is unclear. The purpose of this study was to compare infection-free prosthetic survival rates between patients who received chronic oral antibiotics and those who did not following irrigation and debridement with polyethylene exchange or two-stage revision for periprosthetic joint infection. Methods. We reviewed the records on all irrigation and debridement procedures with polyethylene exchange and two-stage revisions performed at our institution from 1996 to 2010 for hip or knee periprosthetic joint infection. Of 625 patients treated with a total of 655 eligible revisions, ninety-two received chronic oral antibiotics for a minimum of six months and were eligible for inclusion in our study. These patients were compared with a matched cohort (ratio of 1:3) who did not receive chronic oral antibiotics. Results. The five-year infection-free prosthetic survival rate was 68.5% (95% confidence interval = 59.2% to 79.3%) for the antibiotic-suppression group and 41.1% (95% CI = 34.9% to 48.5%) for the non-suppression group (hazard ratio = 0.63, p = 0.008). Stratification by the type of surgery and the infecting organism showed a higher five-year survival rate for the patients in the suppression group who underwent irrigation and debridement with polyethylene exchange (64.7%) compared with those in the non-suppression group who underwent irrigation and debridement with polyethylene exchange (30.4%, p < 0.0001) and a higher five-year survival rate for the patients in the suppression group who had a Staphylococcus aureus infection (57.4%) compared with those in the non-suppression group who had a Staphylococcus aureus infection (40.1%, p = 0.047). Conclusions. Chronic suppression with oral antibiotics increased the infection-free prosthetic survival rate following surgical treatment for periprosthetic joint infection. Patients who underwent irrigation and debridement with polyethylene exchange and those who had a Staphylococcus aureus infection had the greatest benefit