Knee replacements: Pinpointing the cause of infection

PET accurately detects hard-to-diagnose infections following knee replacement, say researchers at SNM's 56th Annual Meeting

TORONTO—A new study reveals that PET scans accurately detect infections in prosthetic knee joints more than 90 percent of the time, according to researchers at the SNM's 56th Annual Meeting. The findings could represent a significant breakthrough in the treatment of patients who undergo joint replacements. Joint replacements are prone to a number of complications following implantation.

"Infections following joint replacement surgery are very serious, very common and very difficult to distinguish from other problems such as loosening of the prosthetic," said Abass Alavi, professor of Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and the principal investigator of the study. "Our study shows that no other diagnostic tool comes close to PET in accurately diagnosing infection with minimal discomfort for patients. What's more, the broader implication is that PET could eventually be used to successfully detect infections and inflammation for other conditions."

It is estimated that more than one million joint replacements are performed in the United States each year. Infections following implant procedures are difficult to fight because the immune system is unable to destroy bacteria that live on the implanted material. Even after treatment with strong antibiotics, the infections can persist. As a result, it is often necessary to remove prosthetic joints if they become infected.

source: Eurekalert