Sonication of Removed Hip and Knee Prostheses for Diagnosis of Infection

• Published in: The New England journal of medicine Vol. 357; no. 7; pp. 654 - 663
• Main Authors: Trampuz, Andrej, Piper, Kerryl E, Jacobson, Melissa J, Hanssen, Arlen D, Unni, Krishnan K, Osmon, Douglas R, Mandrekar, Jayawant N, Cockerill, Franklin R, Steckelberg, James M, Greenleaf, James F, Patel, Robin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston, MA Massachusetts Medical Society 16.08.2007
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Anti-Infective Agents - therapeutic use; Bacteria; Bacteria - isolation & purification; Bacteriological Techniques - methods; Biofilms; Biological and medical sciences; Cell culture; Clinical trials; Diagnosis, Differential; Female; General aspects; Hip joint; Hip Prosthesis - adverse effects; Hip Prosthesis - microbiology; Humans; Infections; Knee; Knee Prosthesis - adverse effects; Knee Prosthesis - microbiology; Male; Medical diagnosis; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Orthopedic surgery; Prospective Studies; Prostheses; Prosthesis Failure; Prosthesis-Related Infections - diagnosis; Prosthesis-Related Infections - microbiology; Sensitivity and Specificity; Sonication; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Knee; Infection; Medicine; Sonication; Hip prosthesis; Orthopedic surgery; Treatment; Diagnosis

Current techniques for the identification of the infecting organism in prosthetic-joint (e.g., hip or knee) infection remain insensitive. In this study of 331 surgeries involving prosthetic joint replacement, a new technique that sonicates the removed artificial joint is found to be more sensitive i...