Abstract
The Sentinel blood culture system was used for the analysis of 657 specimens from infected prosthetic joints and blood cultures (83 from prosthetic joints and 574 from standard blood cultures). The positivity rate was similar for specimens from prosthetic joints and blood cultures (18% compared with 14%). However, there was an unacceptable rate of false positive results with specimens from prosthetic joints (58% compared with 8%). This high false positivity rate was due to (i) prolonged incubation and (ii) the lack of blood in these specimens. It is therefore recommended that the Sentinel system should only be used for the initial seven days of incubation of specimens taken from prosthetic joints. Further incubation should take place in a standard incubator and a terminal subculture performed after 21 days.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Inman R. D., Gallegos K. V., Brause B. D., Redecha P. B., Christian C. L. Clinical and microbial features of prosthetic joint infection. Am J Med. 1984 Jul;77(1):47–53. doi: 10.1016/0002-9343(84)90434-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Roberts P., Walters A. J., McMinn D. J. Diagnosing infection in hip replacements. The use of fine-needle aspiration and radiometric culture. J Bone Joint Surg Br. 1992 Mar;74(2):265–269. doi: 10.1302/0301-620X.74B2.1544966. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Whyte W., Hodgson R., Tinkler J., Graham J. The isolation of bacteria of low pathogenicity from faulty orthopaedic implants. J Hosp Infect. 1981 Sep;2(3):219–230. doi: 10.1016/0195-6701(81)90041-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]