• BACKGROUD/PURPOSE
    • Most patients who undergo two-stage exchange arthroplasty surgery for total knee arthroplasty prosthetic joint infection (TKA-PJI) receive a six-week course of systemic antibiotic treatment after the first stage procedure. However, the optimal duration of therapy has not been conclusively determined.
  • METHODS
    • We included 64 patients with periprosthetic knee infection who had undergone two-stage exchange arthroplasty. Between March 2003 and December 2009, 21 patients were given a short-course (less than 1 week) antibiotic treatment, and 43 were given a standard-course (4-6 weeks) treatment during the interim period. We compared length of hospital stay, duration of intravenous and overall systemic antibiotic treatments, and rate of recurrent periprosthetic knee infection between groups.
  • RESULTS
    • Short-course antibiotic treatment was associated with a shorter hospital stay and a shorter duration of intravenous and systemic antibiotic treatment. Implant survival regarding re-resection arthroplasty and chronic oral antibiotic suppression as primary endpoints was not significant different statistically between two groups (p = 0.317). The 1-year implant survival rates were 91.7% in the short-course group and 89.8% in the standard-course group. The 5-year implant survival rates were 85.2% and 74.0%, respectively.
  • CONCLUSION
    • After the first stage of resection arthroplasty for a two-stage exchange arthroplasty, a short course of antibiotic treatment had similar implant survival rates in comparison to the standard 6-week course. With radical debridement combined with an antibiotic-loaded cement spacer along with serial monitoring of the patient, a short course antibiotic treatment may be adequate in patients with TKA-PJI.