Are Cutibacterium acnes present at the end of primary shoulder prosthetic surgeries responsible for infection? Prospective study

• Published in: European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases Vol. 41; no. 1; pp. 169 - 173
• Main Authors: Torrens, Carlos, Bellosillo, Beatriz, Gibert, Joan, Alier, Albert, Santana, Fernando, Prim, Nuria, Corvec, Stéphane
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.01.2022; Springer Nature B.V; Springer Verlag
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Arthroplasty; Arthroplasty - adverse effects; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Brief Report; Colonies; Female; Gene sequencing; Genome, Bacterial; Genomes; Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections; Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections - microbiology; Human health and pathology; Humans; Infections; Internal Medicine; Joint surgery; Life Sciences; Male; Medical Microbiology; Middle Aged; Patients; Postoperative Complications; Postoperative Complications - microbiology; Propionibacterium acnes; Propionibacterium acnes - genetics; Propionibacterium acnes - growth & development; Propionibacterium acnes - isolation & purification; Prospective Studies; Prostheses; Shoulder; Shoulder - microbiology; Shoulder - surgery; Shoulder Prosthesis; Shoulder Prosthesis - microbiology; Surgery; Whole genome sequencing; Shoulder prosthesis; Bone and joint infection; Whole Genome Sequencing; Cutibacterium acnes
• ISSN: 0934-9723; 1435-4373
• DOI: 10.1007/s10096-021-04348-6

The purpose of this study was to investigate if the C. acnes present at the end of a primary shoulder arthroplasty could be responsible for shoulder arthroplasty infection. Prospective study includes patients undergoing primary shoulder arthroplasty from January 2015 until December 2018. From all the patients included, 5 to 12 tissue samples were obtained and were specifically cultured to detect the presence of C. acnes. DNA was extracted from the C acnes isolated colonies and Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) analysis was done. A cohort of 156 patients was finally included. In twenty-seven patients, the C. acnes was present at the end of the primary surgery. Two of these patients developed a C. acnes periprosthetic shoulder infection at 6 and 4 months after the primary surgery. WGS of C. acnes isolated colonies showed that all the revision-surgery isolates clustered near to the corresponding primary-surgery isolates compared to the other independent bacterial colonies. (99.89% of similarity). C. acnes present at the end of the primary surgery can be the cause of early or delayed periprosthetic joint infections in shoulder arthroplasty.