Relationship between Intraoperative Cultures during Hip Arthroplasty, Obesity, and the Risk of Early Prosthetic Joint Infection: A Prospective Study of 428 Patients:

PurposeTo evaluate the relationship between intraoperative cultures during hip arthroplasty, the different patient characteristics, and the risk of developing a prosthetic joint infection (PJI).MethodsA prospective observational study was performed. Patients who underwent elective THA from March 2007 to March of 2011 were included. Three samples were taken just after arthrotomy: synovial fluid inoculated into blood culture flasks (SF), a tissue sample (TS), and a swab of periprosthetic tissue (S). Patients received standard antibiotic prophylaxis. The PJI rate within the first 3 months after arthroplasty was recorded.Results402 prostheses were included in the study. Contamination rate of synovial fluid was 10.2%. The most frequent isolated microorganism was coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) (32 out of 41). Body mass index (BMI) was the only host characteristic associated with positive intraoperative culture (p=0.009). The PJI rate was 3.7%. Variables associated with PJI in the univariate and multiva...