Diagnosis of SSIs After Arthroplasty: Earlier for Hips Than for Knees?

During the first year after hip or knee arthroplasty, 1% to 2% of patients will develop a surgical-site infection (SSI). Management of such infections depends in part on the timing of diagnosis, with prosthesis removal often required for treatment of those diagnosed long after implantation. An earlier study suggested that SSIs were identified sooner after hip than after knee replacement. Now, to further explore the relation between arthroplasty site and timing of SSI diagnosis, researchers have conducted a retrospective cohort study using surveillance data for 2007 through 2011 from the Duke Infection Control Outreach Network, a network of community hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers in the southeastern U.S.

A total of 661 invasive SSI…