The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has released new guidelines targeting the reduction of fatality, disability, and cost of prosthetic joint infections, according to a recent news release. The guidelines offer evidence and opinions about the types of methods appropriate to diagnose infections early and treat them effectively, placing a key consideration on the patient’s specific situation.
The guidelines include recommendations by the IDSA that physicians should suspect a prosthetic joint infection in a patient who has persistent wound drainage in the skin over the joint replacement, sudden onset of a painful prosthesis, or ongoing pain following the prosthesis’ implantation. The IDSA notes that in patients with prosthetic joint infections, patients with well-fixed prosthesis without an open wound to the skin who underwent surgery less than 20 days previously may prove to be candidates for debridement. The guidelines also note that patients with a more extensive infection that has impacted the bone and tissue may need to have the prosthesis replaced.
Douglas R. Osom, MD, associate professor of medicine in the division of infectious disease at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn, adds that the guidelines will provide a framework to help multidisciplinary teams select the optimal method of diagnosis and treatment for each patient.
The guidelines come at a time when the number of patients with prosthetic joint infections will continue to grow, “although we are getting better at preventing infection, that is countered by the increase in older and sicker people having joint replacement,” Osom says.
Read the guidelines in full here.
Source: IDSA
