Science Letters

Novel Advancements in Diagnosis of Periprosthetic Joint Infection

Sohail Ahmed #, Mohammadhussain Mohammedsalim Lapia #, Feng Liu*, Zhefeng Chen, Weimin Fan

Department of Orthopedics, the First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, 210029, Nanjing, China

Abstract

Periprosthetic Joint Infection (PJI) is one of the most feared complications following joint replacement surgery, since it can lead to substantial mortality and morbidity. Identification of periprosthetic joint infection as early as possible is essential as delaying the diagnosis would potentially result in decreased chances of success of treatments. However, the diagnosis of PJI remains elusive as there is no gold standard reported till date, despite the large volume of literature on the topic. The diagnosis of PJI is challenging since the existing tools of diagnosis do not specifically detect PJI, but are rather an indirect means to detect infection. The purpose of this review is to provide a succinct summary over the laboratory diagnosis of PJI. The review would summarize the success rate along with the pros and cons of the existing modalities and would also present with the recent advancements that could help orthopedic surgeons in dealing with PJI in clinical practice. With the incidence of PJI continuously rising, it is important to improve the accuracy of the existing tests and also to come up with some new techniques which would help in the diagnosis of PJI.

Keywords Biomarker, joint aspiration, joint infection, periprosthetic joint infection, serum analysis, synovial fluid.

Received June 07, 2016 Accepted September 01, 2016 Abstract Published September 25, 2016 Manuscript Published December 15, 2016

*Corresponding author Feng Liu E-mail njliuf@163.com Tel +86-25-83718836 Fax +86-25-83724440

#These authors have contributed equally to the work.