PRAGUE — Irrigation and debridement for the treatment of hip and knee periprosthetic joint infections is a reasonable option for selected patients and should be performed within a short interval for these patients, according to study results presented here.
In a retrospective study, Triantafyllopoulos and colleagues reviewed the clinical characteristics of patients who were diagnosed with early postoperative or hematogenous hip and knee periprosthetic joint infections (PJI) and were treated with single or multiple irrigation and debridement procedures between January 2000 and December 2013. Researchers recorded demographics, infection site and type, duration of symptoms, time from index procedure to irrigation and debridement, pathogen type, comorbidity, interval between serial irrigation and debridements, C-reactive protein levels and erythrocyte sedimentation rates. The minimum follow-up was 12 months. The researchers identified 154 patients with hip and knee (60 hips and 94 knees) PJI. Mean patient age was 64.3 years.
