THE USE OF A REAL TIME PCR FOR DIAGNOSIS OF HIP AND KNEE PROSTHETIC INFECTION: METHOD DEVELOPMENT AND COMPARISON WITH HISTOLOGY AND BACTERIAL CULTURE

Introduction: etiology of late infection after arthroplasty can be difficult to establish. Histology is the gold standard for infection in patients without inflammatory arthritis but diagnosis in inflammatory arthritis depends on culture (Atkins et al). Real-time PCR offers a rapid and direct assessment for staphylococci and enterococci infection but has not been widely assessed.The aims of this study wereto develop the Roche lightcycler Staphylococcal and Enterococcal PCR kits to facilitate diagnosis of hip and knee prosthetic infectionsTo analyse results together with bacteriological and histological findings.Methods: uplicate, multiple tissue samples were taken (with separate sterile instruments) at the 1st stage of revision after informed consent. One set were cultured and results interpreted by the Oxford criteria. The second set were extracted using the Qiagen DNA kit, purified (in-house method) and tested using the Roche lightcycler kits.Results:53 patients undergoing 2 stage revision for suspected...