Increased risk for periprosthetic joint infection in male patients : an analysis of 335 revision total joint arthroplasty cases

Abstract

Total joint arthroplasty is a highly successful surgical procedure, immensely increasing the quality of life of patients who suffer from chronic degenerative joint diseases. In future generations of younger and more active patients the number of primary total joint arthroplasties is going to continue to rise. Concomitant with that, the number of revision total joint arthroplasties will also rise. These revision arthroplasties are more challenging and more threatening to the patients’ health than primary arthroplasties. This single-institutional analysis of 335 revision total joint arthroplasty cases performed during the years 2011 and 2016 at the department for orthopaedic surgery of the University hospital Magdeburg revealed not only that there is a difference in the reasons for revision between the male and female sex but also a striking correlation between the male sex and the incidence of periprosthetic joint infections. Also, a risk factor analysis for some of the most common risk factors for the incidence of periprosthetic joint infections exposed a more than six times higher risk for the incidence of periprosthetic joint infections in patients who already underwent a revision surgery. The data also revealed a more than three times higher risk of periprosthetic joint infections in the male sex when compared to the female sex. These results should be considered during the treatment of patients with primary and revision total joint arthroplasties. Not only, but especially male patients with complications of a total joint arthroplasty require a thoroughly performed diagnostical process to detect periprosthetic joint infections in an early state.