Treatment of periprosthetic knee joint infection using a spacer with a mixed carbon-silver antibacterial coating in the medium term

Abstract

Relevance. Total endoprosthetics is a one of the most common operation for knee pathology. A major complication of joint replacement surgery is periprosthetic infection (PPI). In this work, we looked at the mid-term clinical outcomes of using spacers coated with linear chain carbon doped with silver ions (LC-Ag+) to treat PJI.Object and methods. The mid-term clinical results of 31 patients with LUP-Ag+ coated spacers were compared to 31 control patients groups utilizing tests of the functional and clinical scales KSS, visual analogue pain scale (VAS), EQVAS, and EQ-5D-5L 2 years following surgery.Results. According to the clinical questionnaire, the LC-Ag+ group's mid-term outcomes were statistically better than the control group's for clinical KSS 90 vs. 69 points (p = 0.002) and functional KSS – 75.5 vs. 65 points (p = 0.005), VAS – 1.6 vs. 4.2 points (p < 0.001), EQVAS – 95 vs. 72.5 points (p < 0.001), EQ-5D-5L – 0.84 vs. 0.59 points (p = 0.008), respectively.Conclusions. The combination LC-Ag+ coating increases the mid-term effects of PPI treatment.