Table 2. Classification according to Tsukayama et al (2003) ¹¹ .

Infection type/features	I. Positive intraoperative culture	II. Early postoperative infection	III. Acute hematogenic infection	IV. Late chronic infection
Symptoms start after baseline surgery	____	Up to 4 weeks	After an asymptomatic period	After 4 weeks
Mechanism	____	Exogenous	Hematogenic	Exogenous or hematogenic
Most common etiological agent	Coagulase-negative Staphylococci (epidermidis)	Staphylococci (Coagulase-positive and negative), Gram-negative Bacilli	Coagulase-positive Staphylococci +, Streptococci	Staphylococci (Coagulase-positive and negative), Gram-negative Bacilli
Clinical presentation	Painful arthroplasty	Fever, inflammatory signs, persistent drainage, no sinus tract	Fever, inflammatory signs, no sinus tract	Fever, sinus tract, drainage, pus accumulation, local edema