title: Diagnosing infection in hip replacements. The use of fine-needle aspiration and radiometric culture.
abstract: In 78 consecutive patients, we performed fine-needle aspiration of the hip before revision surgery. At the revision operation biopsies were taken from the capsule and joint tissues. The aspirate and the homogenised soft-tissue specimens were cultured using a radiometric technique. Fifteen hips proved to be infected and 63 sterile on culture of the tissues taken during revision surgery; 94% of the aspiration results were correct. The sensitivity of the technique was 87% and the specificity 95%. Fine-needle aspiration combined with a radiometric culture technique is a simple and reliable method of diagnosing infection of hip prostheses.
authors.affiliation: Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Northfield, Birmingham, England.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Walters
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: McMinn
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D005188:False Negative Reactions; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D006621:Hip Joint / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D006622:Hip Prosthesis / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D007430:Intraoperative Care; D009339:Needles; D011300:Preoperative Care; D016459:Prosthesis-Related Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D012086:Reoperation
chemical_list: D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes