[Prosthetic Joint Infection after Total Hip Arthroplasty: Results of an Online Questionnaire about Current Diagnostic and Therapeutic Procedures in 107 German Hospitals].

Prosthetic hip joint infection is a common severe complication with a high socio-economic impact. The inconsistency of the available data and the absence of binding guidelines lead to a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. The aim of this study is to present the current diagnostic and therapeutic approach to treating infections after total hip arthroplasties in German hospitals, link it with current evidence, and evaluate the willingness of these hospitals to participate in prospective multicentre trials.

Clinical Trial and In Vitro Study for the Role of Cartilage and Synovia in Acute Articular Infection.

Objective: Osteoarthritis is a long-term complication of acute articular infections. However, the roles of cartilage and synovia in this process are not yet fully understood.

Methods: Patients with acute joint infections were enrolled in a prospective clinical trial and the cytokine composition of effusions compared in patients with arthroplasty (n = 8) or with intact joints (n = 67).

Development and retranslational validation of an in vitro model to characterize acute infections in large human joints.

Bacterial infections can destroy cartilage integrity, resulting in osteoarthritis. Goal was to develop an in vitro model with in vivo validation of acute joint inflammation. Inflammation in cocultivated human synovial fibroblasts (SFB), chondrocytes (CHDR), and mononuclear cells (MNC) was successively relieved for 10 days.

Biochemical characterization of early osteoarthritis in the ankle.

Purpose: Reliable data about in vivo regulation of cytokines in early ankle osteoarthritis (OA) are still missing.

Methods: 49 patients with a mean age of 33 ± 14 years undergoing an arthroscopy of the ankle with different stages of chronic OA were prospectively included in a clinical trial. Lavage fluids were analyzed by ELISA.