Surgical debridement and parenteral antibiotics in infected revision total knee arthroplasty

Whether surgical debridement and parenteral antibiotics with prosthesis retention for infected revision TKA eradicates infection is not well established. We sought to determine the prevalence of reinfection. Between 1992 and 2003, we prospectively followed 40 consecutive patients with deep infection after revision TKA. These patients had no prosthesis loosening or malalignment. Using the classification of Tsukayama et al, 10, 20, and 10 patients had Types I (acute postoperative), 11 (late chronic), and III (acute hematogenous) infections, respectively. All had surgical debridement and parenteral antibiotics with retention of their existing prostheses. The patients were followed for a minimum of 3 years (range, 36-143 months). Successful implant salvage was achieved in 12 of the 40 patients (30%). However, likelihood of success depended on the type of infection: patients with Type I infections (seven of 10) and patients with Type III infections (five of 10) retained their prostheses more often than patients with Type II infections (zero of 20). We recommend early debridement and retention of the prosthesis with Type I or Type III infections in revised TKAs, but primary removal for Type II infections.