Sonication of antibiotic-loaded cement spacers in a two-stage revision protocol for infected joint arthroplasty

摘要

BackgroundCulturing of the sonication fluid of removed implants has proven to be more sensitive than conventional periprosthetic tissue culture for the microbiological diagnosis of prosthetic joint infection. Since bacteria surviving on antibiotic-loaded cement spacers used in a two-stage exchange protocol for infected arthroplasties may cause the persistence of infection, in this study we asked whether the sonication also could be used to identify bacteria on antibiotic-loaded cement spacers removed at the second surgical stage during a two-stage exchange procedure to confirm whether or not the prosthetic joint infection had been eradicated.