[Clinical research of debridement with prosthesis retention for periprosthetic joint infection after arthroplasty].

Objective: To investigate the mid-term effectiveness of debridement with prosthesis retention for periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) after total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA), and analyze the influence factors that affected the effectiveness.

Methods: A clinical data of 45 cases with PJI after THA (16 cases) and TKA (29 cases) that were treated with debridement with prosthesis retention between January 2011 and January 2015 were collected and analyzed. There were 19 males and 26 females with a mean age of 58.4 years (range, 23-78 years). PJI occurred after primary joint arthroplasty in 40 cases and after revision in 5 cases. The mean time interval between the performance of infection symptoms and the arthroplasty or revision was 15.5 months (range, 0.5-72.0 months). The time interval between the performance of infection symptoms and debridment was 35 days (range, 3-270 days). There were early postoperative infections in 13 cases, acute hematogenous infections in 24 cases, and late chronic infections in 8 cases. X-ray films showed that the location of prosthesis was good. The results of bacilli culture showed that 28 cases were positive and 17 were negative. Twelve cases had sinuses. Length of stay, Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) score, and Harris score were recorded to evaluate risk factors by using a multivariate logistic regression.

Results: The mean length of stay was 22.6 days (range, 5-79 days). All patients were followed up 24-74 months (mean, 52 months). There were 33 cases that retained the prosthesis without further evidence of infection with the success rate was 73.3%. There were significant differences in Harris score and HSS score between pre- and post-operation ( P <0.05). The univariate analysis results showed that the failure of debridement with prosthesis retention had a significant correlation with sinus developing and duration of infection symptoms more than 14 days ( P <0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis results showed that sinus developing was an independent risk factor of failure ( P <0.05).

Conclusion: Debridement with prosthesis retention plays an important role in treating PJI after THA and TKA. These patients with sinus performing and duration of infection symptoms more than 14 days have higher risk to develop infection again.