Could irrigation, debridement and antibiotic therapy cure an infection of a total hip arthroplasty?

Seven patients suffering from an acute (less than two weeks) infection of a total hip arthro-plast plasty were treated by irrigation and debridement, with appropriate antibiotic therapy and retention of the prosthesis. They w ere followed for an average of 30 months. Infection did not recur in five ( 71%) patients, but the other two required further surgery. We conclude that a cure can be obtained by this method, although the results are inferior t o re-implantation. A minimal procedure spares a patient the morbidity and c ost of a more extensive operation. Higher success rates might have been ach ieved by selecting patients infected with organisms of low virulence, but t here are insufficient data to predict whether this treatment would decrease the success of subsequent re-implantation. (C) 2001 The Hospital Infection Society.