Outcome and predictors of treatment failure in total hip/knee prosthetic joint infections due to Staphylococcus aureus.

Background: Variables associated with the outcome of patients treated for prosthetic joint infections (PJIs) due to Staphylococcus aureus are not well known.

Methods: The medical records of patients treated surgically for total hip or knee prosthesis infection due to S. aureus were reviewed.

Tolerability of prolonged linezolid therapy in bone and joint infection: protective effect of rifampicin on the occurrence of anaemia?

Background: Linezolid therapy has shown high rates of clinical success in patients with osteomyelitis and prosthetic joint infections caused by Gram-positive cocci. Recent studies have demonstrated that linezolid/rifampicin combination therapy prevents the emergence of rifampicin-resistant mutations in vitro. However, linezolid/rifampicin combination-related haematological and neurological toxicities have not been evaluated.

Needle puncture and transcutaneous bone biopsy cultures are inconsistent in patients with diabetes and suspected osteomyelitis of the foot.

Background: Needle puncture has been suggested as a method for identifying bacteria in the bones in patients with diabetes with osteomyelitis of the foot. However, no studies have compared needle puncture with concomitant transcutaneous bone biopsy, which is the current standard recommended in international guidelines.

Methods: We conducted a prospective study in 2 French diabetes foot clinics.

Effectiveness and tolerability of prolonged linezolid treatment for chronic osteomyelitis: a retrospective study.

Background: Linezolid is an oxazolidinone agent which is apparently well designed for treating chronic osteomyelitis, but data on effectiveness and tolerability as prolonged therapy is currently lacking.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness and tolerability of linezolid in the treatment of chronic osteomyelitis.

Methods: The charts of hospitalized patients who had been treated with linezolid for >4 weeks because of chronic osteomyelitis and were followed up for > or =12 months after the end of treatment were retrospectively reviewed for clinical outcome and tolerability.

Culture of percutaneous bone biopsy specimens for diagnosis of diabetic foot osteomyelitis: concordance with ulcer swab cultures.

Background: We assessed the diagnostic value of swab cultures by comparing them with corresponding cultures of percutaneous bone biopsy specimens for patients with diabetic foot osteomyelitis.

Methods: The medical charts of patients with foot osteomyelitis who underwent a surgical percutaneous bone biopsy between January 1996 and June 2004 in a single diabetic foot clinic were reviewed. Seventy-six patients with 81 episodes of foot osteomyelitis who had positive results of culture of bone biopsy specimens and who had received no antibiotic therapy for at least 4 weeks before biopsy constituted the study population.