ROLE OF LONG-TERM ANTIMICROBIAL THERAPY FOR PATIENTS WITH INFECTED ARTHROPLASTY AT STAGE I, II AND III

Introduction: We studied from July 1997 infected hip and knee arthroplasties treated with only antimicrobial therapy without removal of the implants. The patients enrolled were not eligible for surgical operation or refused it. We tried to understand the role of this kind of therapy for the infections at stage I, II and III.Material and Methods: We evaluated patients with hip or knee infected arthroplasties at stage I, II and III, respectively: an early infection (2–4 weeks after the prosthesis implantation), a chronic infection that appears more than one month after the operation and an hematogenous infection. The prosthetic hip infections were treated with an oral therapy for 6 months, while the prosthetic knee infections were treated for 9 months. Follow up examinations were conducted regularly for two yearsResults: We observed 35 patients from July 1997: 15 with an infection at stage I, 17 at stage II: and 3 at stage III. In 23 patients the prosthesis affected was the hip, while in 12 patients it was ...