Dalbavancin Use in Bone and Joint Infections

Abstract

Background

Dalbavancin (DAL) off-label use for treating bone and joint infections has increased especially as long-term intravenous access is not needed. Little is known about the effectiveness and safety of its use.

Methods

This retrospective, single-center, descriptive study included adults treated with DAL for bone or joint infections over a 4-year period (2019-2023). Patient demographics, infection type and location, pre-DAL antibiotic and surgical treatments, indication for DAL, and clinical outcomes were collected. Risk factor analysis for 1-year infection recurrence was performed.

Results

There were 58 patient encounters of bone and/or joint infections treated with DAL. The majority of patients were treated for osteomyelitis (81.0%) followed by native (8.6%) and peri-prosthetic (10.4%) joint infection. Fifty (86.2%) patients underwent surgical intervention, and 17 (68%) of the 25 patients with infected hardware had full hardware removal. The most common pathogen identified was Staphylococcus aureus (41; 70.7%), with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolated in 23 (40.0%) cases. Ten (17.2%) patients had recurrence within 1 year. Hardware removal was found to significantly decrease the risk of infection recurrence (P = .026). None of the peri-prosthetic joint infection patients had infection recurrence within 1 year.

Conclusions

Our findings support DAL as an effective treatment for bone and joint infection when combined with surgical debridement and hardware removal. Failure to remove infected hardware significantly increased the risk of infection recurrence within 1 year. Randomized controlled trials are needed to further support DAL as a novel treatment for orthopedic infections.