title: Prevention of infection in orthopaedic joint replacement.
abstract: Infection of a prosthetic joint is a significant adverse event, affecting the patient, the surgical team, and consuming hospital resources. The patient faces multiple operations, a prolonged hospital stay and a more challenging period of rehabilitation. The surgeon must perform longer and more technically demanding revision operations in order to remove the infected prosthesis, increasing the burden on hospital resources. It has been estimated that that the cost of managing an infected total hip replacement (THR) is four times greater than for a primary procedure (Dreghorn & Hamblen 1989). The personal cost to the patient must also be emphasised.
authors.affiliation: Northern General Hospital, Herries Road, Sheffield S5 7AU. william.lindsay@sth.nhs.uk
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lindsay
authors.forename: Ewan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bigsby
authors.forename: Gordon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bannister
mesh_terms: D019072:Antibiotic Prophylaxis; D019643:Arthroplasty, Replacement / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D016459:Prosthesis-Related Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006113:United Kingdom