title: Incidence of prosthetic joint infections after primary knee arthroplasty.
abstract: We report the 1-year incidence of postoperative infections in an unselected series of 2647 consecutive primary knee arthroplasties (3137 knees) performed in a modern specialized hospital dedicated solely to joint arthroplasty surgery in 2002 to 2006. The rates of superficial and prosthetic joint infections were 2.9% and 0.80%, respectively. Prospective surveillance by hospital infection register failed to detect 6 of the 24 prosthetic joint infections. Increased rate of prosthetic joint infections was associated with complex surgery and with several patient-related factors, for example, comorbidity, obesity, and poor preoperative clinical state. The rate of prosthetic joint infections in contemporary knee arthroplasty is low and mainly related to patient-related factors, of which patient comorbidity has the most profound effect on the infection rate.
authors.affiliation: Medical School, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Esa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jämsen
authors.forename: Markku
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Varonen
authors.forename: Heini
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huhtala
authors.forename: Matti U K
authors.initials: MU
authors.lastname: Lehto
authors.forename: Jukka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lumio
authors.forename: Yrjö T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Konttinen
authors.forename: Teemu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Moilanen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019072:Antibiotic Prophylaxis; D019645:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016459:Prosthesis-Related Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D012307:Risk Factors