RESEARCH ARTICLE


Is There Still a Place for Continuous Closed Irrigation in the Management of Periprosthetic Total Knee Infection?



Antonio Royo*, Maria Luisa Bertrand, Laura Ramos, Fernando Fernandez-Gordillo, Enrique Guerado
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, Hospital Costa del Sol. University of Malaga, Spain


Article Metrics

CrossRef Citations:
10
Total Statistics:

Full-Text HTML Views: 844
Abstract HTML Views: 423
PDF Downloads: 210
Total Views/Downloads: 1477
Unique Statistics:

Full-Text HTML Views: 443
Abstract HTML Views: 267
PDF Downloads: 148
Total Views/Downloads: 858



Creative Commons License
© Royo et al.; Licensee Bentham Open.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/) which permits unrestrictive use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, Hospital Costa del Sol, Autovía A-7 Km. 187, 29603. Marbella, Malaga, Spain; Tel: 34 951 97 66 69; E-mail: am_royo@hotmail.com


Abstract

In recent decades, many technical improvements have been achieved in the use of prosthetic joints, and the risk of infection has been greatly reduced, to current rates of 0.4-2.0% following primary knee replacement. However, the increasing rate of joint replacements being performed means that the absolute number of such infections remains significant and poses substantial costs to healthcare systems worldwide. Accordingly, further strategies to treat and prevent total joint infections should be investigated.

Infections following knee replacements can compromise the function and durability of arthroplasty. When these infections occur during the immediate postoperative period, irrigation and debridement with component retention can be attempted to salvage the implant. This is an attractive, cheap, low-morbidity treatment for periprosthetic knee infection. However, the results published regarding this procedure are uneven; some studies report the eradication of prosthetic joint infection by debridement alone in 70-90% of cases but conversely, others have reported a high failure rate for this procedure, averaging 68% (61-82%). The difference could be attributed in part to the multiplicity of variables that may influence the success of the procedure. One such is that of treatment with a continuous irrigation system, which has the theoretical advantage of enabling the administration of antimicrobial agents, as well as the drainage of debris and blood clots.

The objective of this study is to elucidate the overall efficacy of irrigation and debridement with prosthesis retention in infected total knee arthroplasty and to determine whether the addition of a continuous irrigation system influences this efficacy.

Keywords: Total knee arthroplasty, periprosthetic infection, irrigation and debridement, continuous irrigation.