Use of antibiotic bone cement spacer in treatment of the postoperative infection in the two stage revision of artificial hip arthroplasty

Abstract

Objective To investigate the efficacy of antibiotic bone cement spacer on postoperative infection of artificial hip arthroplasty.Methods From May 2004 to December 2010,15 patients suffered from infection after primary hip arthroplasty were performed with revision surgery.First step to remove the prosthesis and do debridement,then antibiotic bone cement spacer was placed in the joint.After the operation patients were treated with intravenous antibiotics for 3 weeks,then changed to oral antibiotics for 4 weeks.Second step the revision surgery was done after 4-6 months.Harris hip score was used for evaluation.Results Fifteen patients were followed up for 8 to 36 months.The wounds healed well of all patients and without infection recurrence.Postoperative Harris hip score(85±8) improved significantly compared with the preoperative score(42±7) (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions The debridement and using the antibiotic bone cement spacer was able to effectively control the infection recurrence and improve the efficacy of the revision surgery on infection in artificial hip arthroplasty. Key words: Arthroplasty; Infection; Revision surgery; Antibiotic bone cement spacer