INDIVIDUALIZED TREATMENT

Prosthetic Infection: Individualized Treatment in San Diego

The surgeons at REOrthopaedics, Inc., use a comprehensive approach to diagnose and treat peri-prosthetic infections, utilizing their extensive knowledge and experience to organize plans tailored to the needs of each patient.

Treatment and outcomes for peri-prosthetic infections are based on “timing,” meaning the time it took for the infection to develop after the total joint procedure – early, delayed, or late. Other factors affecting treatment include the health of the patient, the quality of bone tissue and the responsiveness of the bacteria to antimicrobial therapy.

If antibiotics and other non-invasive treatment plans are not applicable, surgical removal of the implants and other foreign materials may be necessary, particularly if the infection involves deep tissues or the joint itself. Even in cases that are considered “late infections,” there is a 50 to 80 percent chance the infection can be successfully treated, shy of removing the prosthesis. However, to achieve this level of success, a surgical debridement of the wound and joint must take place very shortly after the onset of symptoms (pain, swelling, fever and/or drainage).

Treatment of Delayed Prosthetic Infection

The most successful method to treat delayed, peri-prosthetic infections is a staged protocol involving a series of two, distinct operations (over time) that are designed to exchange the infected prosthesis for a new one. In the first stage, infected tissue and all prosthetic components are removed and the wound is allowed to heal with the aide of systemic and locally implanted antibiotics. In the second stage, weeks or months after the first, a new prosthesis is implanted.

Between stages, the joint can be:

• left loose and protected with a brace
• held stiff and motionless with a temporary fusion
• free to move, using a temporary, prosthetic composite of “high dose” antibiotic cements and adjunctive antibiotic beads

As when treating other types of osteomyelitis, the wound and patient are protected with a course of systemic antibiotic therapy designed to treat the bacteria causing the infection. In the hands of the surgeons of REOrthopaedics, Inc., these outcomes match those when treating infected non-unions of long bones. Success Rates = 94 percent or higher.

The surgeons at REOrthopaedics, Inc., use a comprehensive approach to diagnose and treat peri-prosthetic infections, utilizing their extensive knowledge and experience to organize plans tailored to the needs of each patient. For more information about peri-prosthetic infections, contact our San Diego office office. We are pleased to serve patients from nearby Los Angeles, Mexico as well as throughout Canada, the United States, and across the globe.