RESEARCH ARTICLE
Current Evidence for the Use of Laminar Flow in Reducing Infection Rates in Total Joint Arthroplasty
M James, W.S Khan, M.R Nannaparaju, J.S Bhamra*, R Morgan-Jones
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2015Volume: 9
Issue: Suppl 2: M7
First Page: 495
Last Page: 498
Publisher ID: TOORTHJ-9-495
DOI: 10.2174/1874325001509010495
Article History:
Received Date: 17/12/2014Revision Received Date: 23/4/2015
Acceptance Date: 22/5/2015
Electronic publication date: 5/10/2015
Collection year: 2015

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Since the introduction of laminar air flow in orthopaedic theatres by Sir John Charnley, it has widely become accepted as the standard during orthopaedic procedures such as joint arthroplasty. We present a review of available current literature for the use of laminar flow operating theatre ventilation during total joint arthroplasty and examines the effectiveness of laminar flow ventilated operating theatres in preventing post-operative wound infection. Results of our findings suggest that while bacterial and air particulate is reduced by laminar air flow systems, there is no conclusive effect on the reduction of post-operative wound infections following total joint arthroplasty. We conclude that a combination of strict aseptic technique, prophylactic antibiotics and good anaesthetic control during surgery remains crucial to reduce post-operative surgical infections.