Reimplantation for the Salvage of an Infected Total Knee Arthroplasty

We retrospectively reviewed the results in fourteen patients in whom salvage of an acutely infected total knee arthroplasty was attempted between 1970 and 1981 by the implantation of a new prosthesis within two weeks of removal of the infected one. Salvage was successful in six of the seven patients with a low-virulence infection but in only two of the seven patients with a high-virulence infection. Of the eight patients for whom the result was a functioning prosthesis, two had significant restriction of motion and one had moderate pain. If these three patients are eliminated from analysis, the over-all success rate is only 35 per cent (five of fourteen patients). We concluded that the implantation of another prosthesis for the treatment of infection of a total knee arthroplasty should be done with caution, and preferably when the infection has been caused by a low-grade organism and after a waiting period of longer than two weeks.