One of the surgical therapeutic options for periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) includes debridement, antibiotics, and implant retention (DAIR). Prognostically favorable criteria for DAIR include short duration of symptoms, stable implant, pathogen susceptible to a ‘biofilm-active’ antimicrobial agent, and intact soft-tissue conditions. Despite this, there is a proportion of failures after DAIR, possibly because the duration of infection is underestimated. With the hypothesis that the duration of infection correlates with the bacterial load, and hence, the bacterial load is associated with failure after DAIR, we aimed to investigate the association of bacterial load in the sonication fluid of mobile parts and clinical outcome after DAIR. From our PJI cohort (2010–2021), patients with DAIR (both palliative and curative approaches) were reviewed retrospectively. Patients with hip, knee or shoulder arthroplasties fulfilling infection definition, available sonication results, and ≥2 years follow-up were included. Sonication results were categorized in ≤ or >1000 cfu/mL. Univariate analysis was performed to identify predictors for DAIR failure.Aim
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