Background
One stage exchange of a chronically infected total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is recommended in selected cases only. However, there is little evidence regarding the usefulness of selection criteria. The goal of this retrospective study was to compare the results of two concomitant cohorts of patients with chronically infected TKA: one treated with a routine one-stage exchange (study group) and one treated with one-stage exchange in selected cases only (control group). The hypoyhesis tested was that the failure rate and repeat surgery rate were higher in the study group than in the control group.