Abstract

Prosthetic joint infections are a major challenge in Total joint arthroplasty, especially in times of accumulating drug resistancies. Even though predictive risk classifications are a widely accepted tool to define a suitable treatment protocol a classification is still missing considering the difficulty in treating the causative pathogen antibiotically. In this study, we present and evaluate a new predictive risk stratification for prosthetic joint infections in 120 cases, treated with a two-stage exchange.

Treatment outcomes in 120 patients with proven prosthetic joint infections in hip and knee prostheses were regressed on time of infection, systemic risk factors, local risk factors and the difficulty in treating the causing pathogen. The main outcome variable was “definitely free of infection” after two years as published. Age, gender, and BMI were included as covariables and analyzed in a logistic regression model. 66 male and 54 female patients, with a mean age at surgery of 68.3 years ± 12.0 and a mean BMI of 26.05 ± 6.21 were included in our survey and followed for 29.0 ± 11.3 months. We found a significant association (p < 0.001) between our score and the outcome parameters evaluated. Age, gender and BMI did not show a significant association with the outcome.
These results show that our score is an independent and reliable predictor for the cure rate in prosthetic joint infections in hip and knee prostheses treated within a two-stage exchange protocol. Our score illustrates, that there is a statistically significant, sizable decrease in cure rate with an increase in score.

In patients with prosthetic joint infections the validation of a risk score may help to identify patients with local and systemic risk factors or with infectious organisms identified as “difficult to treat” prior to the treatment or the decision about the treatment concept. Thus, appropriate extra care should be considered and provided.