title: Infection rates with use of intra-articular pain catheters in total knee arthroplasty.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Intra-articular pain catheters effectively reduce postoperative pain in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) by delivering analgesia to the surgical site. However, concerns exist regarding the potential for increasing deep infections. This study tested the hypothesis that intra-articular pain catheters in TKA increase the rate of deep surgical site infections.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective analysis of 1915 patients undergoing primary TKA between January 2008 and December 2013 was undertaken, comparing infection rates between patients with intra-articular catheters inserted and those without.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Deep infection rate was 0.53% with intra-articular pain catheters, compared with 0.77% when the catheters were not inserted. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups (P = 0.56).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Intra-articular pain catheters in TKA did not increase the rate of deep infection.
authors.affiliation: Canterbury Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ham
authors.affiliation: Sydney Knee Specialists, St George Private Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Navendu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Goyal
authors.affiliation: Whitlam Orthopaedic Research Centre, Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia.|South Western Sydney Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Ian A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: Sydney Knee Specialists, St George Private Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Darren B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Sydney Knee Specialists, St George Private Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Samuel J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: MacDessi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000700:Analgesics / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D019645:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee / Q000009:adverse effects*; D055499:Catheter-Related Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D057785:Catheters / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007270:Injections, Intra-Articular; D007719:Knee Joint; D008297:Male; D009517:New South Wales / Q000453:epidemiology; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000601:surgery*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000295:instrumentation*; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000628:therapy*; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D000700:Analgesics
keywords: catheters; intra-articular injection; postoperative pain; surgical wound infection; total knee arthroplasty