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Purpose: Cases of fracture-fixation device infection involving Staphylococcus lugdunensis are not frequent. The clinical characteristics and the choice of treatment strategies of these infections are not obviously known to date., Methods: We performed a review of fracture-fixation device infection involving S. lugdunensis managed by our centres., Results: Among the 38 cases of fracture-fixation device infection involving S. lugdunensis, 53% were located in the tibia. Most of our cases (87%) were chronic infections. Purulent discharge, which occurred in 79% of cases, was the most frequent clinical symptom, followed by pain in 63%, local inflammation in 55%, and fever in 37%. Bacteremia and severe sepsis occurred in 10% and 18% of cases, respectively. Four cases (10%) were treated exclusively with antimicrobial treatment alone. Thirty-four cases (89%) were treated with a combination of surgery with antimicrobial therapy including surgical debridement, antibiotics and osteosynthesis device retention in six cases (16%), and osteosynthesis device removal in 27 cases (71%). The mean length of antibiotic treatment was 119 days. The relapse rate was high that was not related to selection of resistant strains. Polymicrobial infection had no impact on clinical outcome. A combination of surgery with antimicrobial therapy was identified as a significant prognostic factor associated with remission (p = 0.042)., Conclusions: S. lugdunensis is probably involved in more infections than has been reported. Using appropriate microbiological methods laboratories should routinely identify the species of all coagulase-negative Staphylococci isolates involved in fracture-fixation device infection to better achieve the treatment strategies of fracture-fixation device infection involving S. lugdunensis.

Purpose: In contrast to a large amount of epidemiological data regarding the incidence of implant infections after fracture management, surprisingly few have been published concerning the success of their treatment., Methods: This was a single-centre cohort study at Geneva University Hospitals from 2000 to 2012 investigating the remission rates of orthopaedic implant infections after fracture repair and associated variables., Results: A total of 139 episodes were included: There were 51 women (37%) and 28 immunosuppressed (20%) patients with a median age and American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) score of 51 years and 2 points, respectively. The infected implants were plates (n = 75, 54 %), nails (24, 17%), wires (20), screws (10), cerclage cables or wires (3), hip screws (4) or material for spondylodesis (3). A pathogen was identified in 135 (97%) cases, including Staphylococcus aureus (73, 52%), coagulase-negative staphylococci (20), streptococci (7) and 19 Gram-negative rods. All patients underwent antibiotic treatment, and 128 (92%) remained in remission at a median follow-up time of 2.6 years (range one to 13 years). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, the plate infections were significantly associated with lower remission rates [65/75, 87%, odds ratio (OR) 0.1, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.01-0.90]. No associations were found for gender, age, immune status, ASA score, additional surgical interventions (OR 0.4, 95% CI 0.1-4.1) or duration of antibiotic treatment (OR 1.0, 95% CI 0.98-1.01)., Conclusions: Among all infected and removed orthopaedic implants, plates were associated with slightly lower remission rates, while the overall treatment success exceeded 90%. The duration of antibiotic therapy did not alter the outcome.