Preoperative optimization and protocols for joint replacement care pathways have led to decreased length of stay (LOS), decreased narcotic use and are increasingly important in delivering quality, cost savings and shifting appropriate cases to an outpatient setting. The intraoperative use of vasopressors is independently associated with increased length of stay, risk of adverse postoperative events including death and in total hip arthroplasty there is an increased risk for ICU admission. Our aim is to characterize the patient characteristics associated with vasopressor use specifically in total knee arthroplasty (TKA). We retrospectively reviewed 748 patients undergoing inpatient primary total knee arthroplasty at a single academic institution by two surgeons from 1/1/17 to 12/21/18. Demographics, comorbidities, perioperative factors and intraoperative medication administration were compared with multivariate regression to identify patients who may require intraoperative vasopressors.INTRODUCTION
METHODS
Surgical management of PJI remains challenging with patients failing treatment despite the best efforts. An important question is whether these later failures reflect reinfection or the persistence of infection. Proponents of reinfection believe hosts are vulnerable to developing infection and new organisms emerge. The alternative hypothesis is that later failure is a result of an organism that was present in the joint but was not picked up by initial culture or was not a pathogen initially but became so under antibiotic pressure. This multicenter study explores the above dilemma. Utilizing next-generation sequencing (NGS), we hypothesize that failures after two stage exchange arthroplasty can be caused by an organism that was present at the time of initial surgery but not isolated by culture. This prospective study involving 15 institutions collected samples from 635 revision total hip (n=310) and knee (n=325) arthroplasties. Synovial fluid, tissue and swabs were obtained intraoperatively for NGS analysis. Patients were classified per 2018 Consensus definition of PJI. Treatment failure was defined as reoperation for infection that yielded positive cultures, during minimum 1-year follow-up. Concordance of the infecting pathogen cultured at failure with NGS analysis at initial revision was determined.Introduction
Methods