Ten-day culture incubation time can accurately detect bacterial infection in periprosthetic infection in shoulder arthroplasty
Heather Ellsworth, Lingxin Zhang, Jay D. Keener, Carey‐Ann D. Burnham, Alexander W. Aleem
Abstract
BACKGROUND: in shoulder specimens. METHODS: A retrospective review of shoulder cultures from 2014-2017 of patients undergoing workup for possible infected shoulder arthroplasty was performed. Cultures were obtained in patients either preoperatively or intraoperatively at the time of revision. Presence of infection was determined based on at least 1 positive culture and treatment with either prolonged antibiotics, placement of an antibiotic spacer at the time of revision, or repeat surgical débridement. RESULTS: as the most commonly recovered organism (57% of positive cultures). Clinical follow-up of patients with negative cultures found no incidence of missed periprosthetic infection. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that by adopting more uniform culture methods, a shorter culture incubation time may be adequate. Ultimately, prospective studies with rigorous microbiologic methods are needed to best understand the clinical significance of unexpected positive bacterial cultures in shoulder arthroplasty.