Specific microbiology issues relating to prosthetic joint infection

Abstract

This chapter discusses specific microbiology issues relating to prosthetic joint infection (PJI) and includes discussion on antibiotic prophylaxis (including elective joint replacement in the uninfected case), choice of ‘prophylaxis/treatment’ in the infected, or presumed, infected case, a suggested framework for a safe practice, antibiotic use in PJI in the age of resistance, background on rising antibiotic resistance, approach to one- and two-stage surgical management, outpatient antibiotic therapy and when to use it, monitoring/stopping rules, the particular problems of Pseudomonas and Candida in PJI, and myths and facts about what ‘immunosuppression’ actually means in practice (including MRSA), and a conclusion.