Outcome of the infected hip arthroplasty. A retrospective study of 36 patients

We report the outcome after revision for deep infection in 34 total and two hemiarthroplasties of the hip. Excision arthroplasty was carried out in 26 cases a median of 1 (0-8) years after the infection was diagnosed. Thirteen of these cases later underwent rearthroplasty, and in 3 of them the infection recurred. In 3 cases, revision in one stage with exchange of both components was successfully performed. In 2 cases only one of the components was exchanged; both of these procedures failed to eradicate the infection. Five patients died, two deaths being related to the infection. Altogether, the infection was eradicated in 30/36 cases, 34 of whom first underwent nonradical treatment. This contributed to 1 (0-7) years' delay of removal of the prosthesis. Clearly, revision should be performed early if the infection fails to respond rapidly to antibiotic treatment.