Is the Current Antibiotic Prophylaxis for Orthopedic Prosthetic Surgery Adequate?

Among patients with prosthetic joint infections in Australia, the prophylactic regimen used had activity against the subsequently isolated pathogen in only 37% of cases.

Infection of a prosthetic joint, a devastating complication of joint-replacement surgery, occurs in 1% to 3% of cases and leads to major morbidity and excess costs. To minimize infection risk, guidelines recommend perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis, typically with a cephalosporin. But are the agents recommended decades ago still appropriate in an era of increasing multidrug resistance?

To answer this question, researchers investigated the epidemiology and microbiological etiology of prosthetic joint infections at 10 hospitals in Australia between 2006 and 2008 (163 cases; overall infection rate, 2%). The infections occurred a median of 20 days after arthroplasty; 90% of them manifested within the first 3 months. Culture of specimens obtain…

Reviewing Author

Thomas Glück, MD

Disclosures

Editorial BoardsConsilium Infectiorum by InfectoPharm, Infection

Thomas Glück, MD

Disclosures

Editorial BoardsConsilium Infectiorum by InfectoPharm, Infection