Predictors of Success With Chronic Antibiotic Suppression for Prosthetic Joint Infections

Management of recurrent prosthetic joint infection (PJI) after attempted surgical eradication remains a challenge. Chronic antibiotic suppression (CAS) is regarded as a reasonable treatment option for select patients with persistent infection or multiple comorbidities. The study seeks to compare cohorts who succeed and fail with CAS.

This retrospective cohort study assesses patients who were treated with CAS for a PJI. Patients were included if they had a culture-proven PJI and received chronic suppressive antibiotics. Failure of suppression was defined as reoperation after initiating CAS or death occurring as result of infection. A Cox proportional hazards multivariate regression model was used to estimate risk of reoperation as a function of risk factors related to patient comorbidities, surgical history, affected joint, and infecting organism.

We identified 45 PJIs (31 knees, 14 hips) managed with CAS with a median follow-up of 50 (95% confidence interval [CI] 33.61-74.02) months. The overall success rate of managing PJI with CAS was 67% (30/45). Controlling for body mass index and Gram status of the organism, total hip arthroplasty patients were less likely than total knee arthroplasty patients to require reoperation (hazard ratio 0.18, 95% CI 0.01-0.96, P = .04). Patients with Gram-positive infections were less likely than those with a Gram-negative infections to require reoperation (hazard ratio 0.22, 95% CI 0.05-0.88, P = .03). Severe antibiotic side effects were rare. Patients who experienced multiple changes to their antibiotic regimen were more likely to fail with CAS.

CAS is a reasonable strategy in patients with PJI who lack or refuse further surgical treatment options. Most hips and Gram-positive infections treated with CAS successfully avoided reoperation in this cohort.