Role of asymptomatic bacteriuria on early periprosthetic joint infection after hip hemiarthroplasty. BARIFER randomized clinical trial

Purpose To evaluate preoperative asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) treatment to reduce early-periprosthetic joint infections (early-PJIs) after hip hemiarthroplasty (HHA) for fracture. Methods Open-label, multicenter RCT comparing fosfomycin-trometamol versus no intervention with a parallel follow-up cohort without ASB. Primary outcome: early-PJI after HHA. Results Five hundred ninety-four patients enrolled (mean age 84.3); 152(25%) with ASB (77 treated with fosfomycin trometamol/75 controls) and 442(75%) without. Despite the study closed without the intended sample size, ASB was not predictive of early-PJI (OR: 1.06 [95%CI: 0.33–3.38]), and its treatment did not modify early-PJI incidence (OR: 1.03 [95%CI: 0.15–7.10]). Conclusions Neither preoperative ASB nor its treatment appears to be risk factors of early-PJI after HHA. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: Eudra CT 2016-001108-47