Two-Stage Revision for Prosthetic Joint Infection: Outcome and Role of Reimplantation Microbiology in 107 Cases

Two-stage revision is widely used for the treatment of prosthetic joint infections. However, the duration of antibiotic treatment between stages and role of reimplantation microbiology are controversial. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcome and influence of the reimplantation microbiology of two-staged revisions with 6 weeks of antibiotic treatment. We retrospectively reviewed 107 patients treated with two-stage revision between 2001 and 2009. The overall treatment success rate was 94.4%. The reimplantation cultures were positive in 5/97 (5.2%) cases, and only one of them failed. Therefore, we achieved excellent results with a 6-week course of antibiotics between stages in two-stage revision. Positive reimplantation cultures do not seem to be associated with worse outcomes.