Intraoperative subcutaneous wound closing culture sample: a predicting factor for periprosthetic infection after hip- and knee-replacement?
Frank, C.B., Adams, M., Kroeber, M. et al.Hip Knee
Introduction
It is unknown whether intraoperative subcutaneous wound closing culture samples (WCCS) are useful to predict periprosthetic joint infection (PJI).
Method
Here we prospectively followed 167 out of a total of 175 consecutive patients with primary total hip (THR) or knee replacement (TKR) between 01/2002 and 12/2002 for a mean follow-up period of 5 years; of those patients, n = 159 (96.8%) underwent WCCS.
Results
The results showed a positive WCCS in n = 9 cases (5.8%). Nine patients developed postoperative wound complication and required revision surgery. Two patients developed signs of a deep periprosthetic infection; however, only one out of nine patients had initial positive WCCS.
Conclusion
Our results thus indicate that WCCS during primary joint replacement is not an appropriate predictive method to identify patients at risk for periprosthetic joint infections.
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