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. 2019 Oct 15;4(5):238-244.
doi: 10.7150/jbji.37757. eCollection 2019.

Evaluation One Year after DAIR Treatment in 91 Suspected Early Prosthetic Joint Infections in Primary Knee and Hip Arthroplasty

Anouk M E Jacobs  1   2 , Lucia J J Valkering  1 , Menno Bénard  2 , Jacques F Meis  3   4 , Jon H M Goosen  1
Affiliations

Evaluation One Year after DAIR Treatment in 91 Suspected Early Prosthetic Joint Infections in Primary Knee and Hip Arthroplasty

Anouk M E Jacobs et al. J Bone Jt Infect. .

Abstract

Introduction: Early recognition and appropriate initial treatment with debridement, antibiotics and implant retention (DAIR) if a suspicion of an early prosthetic joint infection (PJI) is present can eradicate infection on first attempt and prevent implant failure. We evaluated the outcome after 1 year of patients treated with DAIR after primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA) or total hip arthroplasty (THA). Furthermore, we determined preoperative, microbiology, and treatment factors related to failure after DAIR.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was assembled with 91 patients undergoing DAIR with a high suspicion of an early PJI. Records were reviewed for demographics, preoperative laboratory results, microbiological data, given treatment and postoperative follow-up. The primary outcome was infection-free implant survival at 1 year. Repeated DAIR was not considered as treatment failure.

Results: The rate of infection-free implant survival following DAIR in a suspected early PJI was 85% (95% confidence intervals (CI) 78-91). Cultures remained negative in 20 patients, with no occurrence of infection during follow-up. A higher failure rate was seen in early PJI caused by Enterococcus faecalis (p=0.04). Multivariate analysis showed a statistically significant association between treatment failure and high C-reactive protein level (CRP >100) (odds ratio 10.0, 95% CI [1.5-70]) and multiple DAIR procedures (≥2) (odds ratio 5.0, 95%CI [1.1-23]).

Conclusion: If an early PJI is suspected DAIR is the appointed treatment with up to 2 debridement procedures. Since culture-negative DAIRs were not related to any complications during follow-up, overtreatment of suspected PJI seems to do no significant harm with respect to implant failure.

Keywords: DAIR; prosthetic joint infection; total hip arthroplasty; total knee arthroplasty.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Kaplan-Meier infection-free survival curve of 91 patients treated with debridement, antibiotics and implant retention (DAIR). Censored data (vertical spikes) and 95% confidence interval (vertical bands) are also shown.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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