The Role of Nuclear Medicine Imaging with F-FDG PET/CT, Combined In-WBC/Tc-Nanocoll, and Tc-HDP SPECT/CT in the Evaluation of Patients with Chronic Problems after TKA or THA in a Prospective Study.

Background: The aim of this prospective study was to assess the diagnostic value of nuclear imaging with F-FDG PET/CT (FDG PET/CT), combined In-WBC/Tc-Nanocoll, and Tc-HDP SPECT/CT (dual-isotope WBC/bone marrow scan) for patients with chronic problems related to knee or hip prostheses (TKA or THA) scheduled by a structured multidisciplinary algorithm.

Materials And Methods: Fifty-five patients underwent imaging with Tc-HDP SPECT/CT (bone scan), dual-isotope WBC/bone marrow scan, and FDG PET/CT. The final diagnosis of prosthetic joint infection (PJI) and/or loosening was based on the intraoperative findings and microbiological culture results and the clinical follow-up.

Multidisciplinary Diagnostic Algorithm for Evaluation of Patients Presenting with a Prosthetic Problem in the Hip or Knee: A Prospective Study.

The predominant indications for revision surgery after total hip (THA) or knee arthroplasty (TKA) are an aseptic failure (AF) and prosthetic joint infection (PJI). Accurate diagnosis is crucial. Therefore, we evaluated prospectively a multidisciplinary diagnostic algorithm including multi-modal radionucleid imaging (RNI) and extended microbiological diagnostics.

Differential Contributions of Specimen Types, Culturing, and 16S rRNA Sequencing in Diagnosis of Prosthetic Joint Infections.

Prosthetic joint failure is mainly caused by infection, aseptic failure (AF), and mechanical problems. Infection detection has been improved with modified culture methods and molecular diagnostics. However, comparisons between modified and conventional microbiology methods are difficult due to variations in specimen sampling.

Microbiological diagnosis of device-related biofilm infections.

Medical device-related infections cause undue patient distress, increased morbidity and mortality and pose a huge financial burden on healthcare services. The pathogens are frequently distributed heterogeneously in biofilms, which can persist without being effectively cleared by host immune defenses and antibiotic therapy. At present, there is no 'gold standard' available to reveal the presence of device-related biofilm infections.

In vivo gene expression in a Staphylococcus aureus prosthetic joint infection characterized by RNA sequencing and metabolomics: a pilot study.

Background: Staphylococcus aureus gene expression has been sparsely studied in deep-sited infections in humans. Here, we characterized the staphylococcal transcriptome in vivo and the joint fluid metabolome in a prosthetic joint infection with an acute presentation using deep RNA sequencing and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, respectively. We compared our findings with the genome, transcriptome and metabolome of the S.

'All in a box' a concept for optimizing microbiological diagnostic sampling in prosthetic joint infections.

Background: Accurate microbial diagnosis is crucial for effective management of prosthetic joint infections. Culturing of multiple intraoperative tissue samples has increased diagnostic accuracy, but new preparatory techniques and molecular methods hold promise of further improvement. The increased complexity of sampling is, however, a tough challenge for surgeons and assistants in the operation theatre, and therefore we devised and tested a new concept of pre-packed boxes with a complete assortment of swabs, vials and additional tools needed in the operating theatre for non-standard samples during a clinical study of prosthetic joint infections.

Optimizing culture methods for diagnosis of prosthetic joint infections: a summary of modifications and improvements reported since 1995.

Improving diagnosis of prosthetic joint infections (PJIs) has become an increasing challenge due to a steadily rising number of patients with prosthetic implants. Based on a systematic literature search we have ascertained the evidence base for improvement of culture diagnosis. We searched PubMed/MEDLINE using the medical subject heading (MeSH) 'prosthesis-related infections' 1995 through 2010 without further restrictions.