Implementing Oral Antibiotics for Bone and Joint Infections: Lessons Learned and Opportunities for Improvement.

Background: Although intravenous antibiotics have historically been the standard of care for bone and joint infections, clinical trial data have highlighted the safety and efficacy of oral antibiotics. Despite this, intravenous antibiotics are still commonly used, and evaluations of institutional guidelines advancing oral antibiotic use are limited.

Methods: In April 2023, we implemented a new institutional guideline to preferentially treat patients with bone and joint infections with oral antibiotics.

Modern Plasma Medicine and Orthopaedic Surgery: A Brief History and Outlook.

Modern plasma medicine is a field of medical research combining plasma physics, life sciences, and clinical medicine. It aims to achieve direct application of physical plasma on or in the human body for therapeutic purposes. In medical contexts, the term plasma denotes the liquid component of blood, while in the physical sciences, it refers to ionized gas-also known as the fourth state of matter alongside solid, liquid, and gas.

Does Discussing Patient-reported Outcome Measures Increase Pain Self-efficacy at an Orthopaedic Visit? A Prospective, Sequential, Comparative Series.

Background: Pain self-efficacy, or the ability to carry out desired activities in the presence of pain, can affect a patient's ability to function before and after orthopaedic surgery. Previous studies suggest that shared decision-making practices such as discussing patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) can activate patients and improve their pain self-efficacy. However, the ability of PROMs to influence pain self-efficacy in patients who have undergone orthopaedic surgery has yet to be investigated.

The mononuclear phagocyte system obscures the accurate diagnosis of infected joint replacements.

Introduction: Diagnosing infected joint replacements relies heavily on assessing the neutrophil response to bacteria. Bacteria form biofilms on joint replacements. Biofilms are sessile bacterial communities encased in a protective extracellular matrix, making them notoriously difficult to culture, remarkably tolerant to antibiotics, and able to evade phagocytosis.

Detection of Synchronous Foci of Infection using Positron Emission Tomography in Septic Patients Who Have a Periprosthetic Joint Infection.

Introduction: Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) with sepsis is a life-threatening condition and identification of synchronous foci of infection is challenging. Positron emission tomography using F-fluorodeoxyglucose combined with computed tomography (F-FDG-PET/CT) is useful to detect PJI in elective, non-septic patients. We hypothesized that in patients who have PJI and concomitant sepsis requiring intensive care, F-FDG-PET/CT could accurately identify synchronous foci of infection.