Microbiological Profile of Periprosthetic Knee Infections in a Brazilian Unified Health System Hospital Specialized in Highly Complex Orthopedic Surgeries^[*]

Abstract

Objective We studied the microbiological profile of periprosthetic knee infections treated in a Brazilian tertiary hospital.

Methods The study included all patients undergoing revision surgery for total knee arthroplasty (RTKA) between November 2019 and December 2021, with a diagnosis of periprosthetic infection confirmed per the 2018 International Consensus Meeting (ICM) criteria.

Results Sixty-two patients had a periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) per the 2018 ICM criteria. Cultures were monomicrobial in 79% and polymicrobial in 21% of cases. The most frequent bacterium in microbiological tissue and synovial fluid cultures was Staphylococcus aureus, observed in 26% of PJI patients. Periprosthetic joint infection with negative cultures occurred in 23% of patients.

Conclusion Our results show the following: i) a high prevalence of Staphylococcus as an etiological agent for knee PJI; ii) a high incidence of polymicrobial infections in early infections; iii) the occurrence of PJI with negative cultures in approximately one fourth of the subjects.

Keywords

arthroplasty, replacement, knee - postoperative complications - intraarticular injections - prosthesis-related infections

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