Surgical site infection (SSI) is a common complication of surgery
with an incidence of about 1% in the United Kingdom. Sutures can
lead to the development of a SSI, as micro-organisms can colonize
the suture as it is implanted. Triclosan-coated sutures, being antimicrobical,
were developed to reduce the rate of SSI. Our aim was to assess
whether triclosan-coated sutures cause a reduction in SSIs following
arthroplasty of the hip and knee. This two-arm, parallel, double-blinded study involved 2546 patients
undergoing elective total hip (THA) and total knee arthroplasty
(TKA) at three hospitals. A total of 1323 were quasi-randomized
to a standard suture group, and 1223 being quasi-randomized to the
triclosan-coated suture group. The primary endpoint was the rate
of SSI at 30 days postoperatively.Aims
Patients and Methods
We wanted to investigate regional variations in the organisms
reported to be causing peri-prosthetic infections and to report
on prophylaxis regimens currently in use across England. Analysis of data routinely collected by Public Health England’s
(PHE) national surgical site infection database on elective primary
hip and knee arthroplasty procedures between April 2010 and March
2013 to investigate regional variations in causative organisms.
A separate national survey of 145 hospital Trusts (groups of hospitals
under local management) in England routinely performing primary
hip and/or knee arthroplasty was carried out by standard email questionnaire.Objectives
Methods