Outcome of the infected hip arthroplasty A retrospective study of 36 patients

Abstract

We report the outcome after revision for deep infection in 34 total and two hemi-arthroplasties of the hip. Excision arthroplasty was carried out in 26 cases a median of 1 (0-8) years after the infection was diagnosed. Thirteen of these cases later underwent rearthroplasty, and in 3 of them the infection recurred. In 3 cases, revision in one stage with exchange of both components was successfully performed. In 2 cases only one of the components was exchanged; both of these procedures failed to eradicate the infection. Five patients died, two deaths being related to the infection. Altogether, the infection was eradicated in 30/36 cases, 34 of whom first underwent nonradical treatment. This contributed to 1 (0-7) years' delay of removal of the prosthesis. Clearly, revision should be performed early if the infection fails to respond rapidly to antibiotic treatment.