Feng-Chen Kao

Prosthetic Joint Infection Following Invasive Dental Procedures and Antibiotic Prophylaxis in Patients With Hip or Knee Arthroplasty.

OBJECTIVES We aimed to clarify whether invasive dental treatment is associated with increased risk of prosthetic joint infection (PJI) and whether prophylactic antibiotics may lower the infection risk remain unclear. DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. PARTICIPANTS All Taiwanese residents (N=255,568) who underwent total knee or hip arthroplasty between January 1, 1997, and November 30, 2009, were screened. METHODS The dental cohort consisted of 57,066 patients who received dental treatment and were individually matched 1:1 with the nondental cohort by age, sex, propensity score, and index date. The dental cohort was further divided by the use or nonuse of prophylactic antibiotics. The antibiotic and nonantibiotic subcohorts comprised 6,513 matched pairs. RESULTS PJI occurred in 328 patients (0.57%) in the dental subcohort and 348 patients (0.61%) in the nondental subcohort, with no between-cohort difference in the 1-year cumulative incidence (0.6% in both, P=.3). Multivariate-adjusted Cox regression revealed no association between dental procedures and PJI. Furthermore, PJI occurred in 13 patients (0.2%) in the antibiotic subcohort and 12 patients (0.18%) in the nonantibiotic subcohorts (P=.8). Multivariate-adjusted analyses confirmed that there was no association between the incidence of PJI and prophylactic antibiotics. CONCLUSIONS The risk of PJI is not increased following dental procedure in patients with hip or knee replacement and is unaffected by antibiotic prophylaxis. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2017;38:154-161.

Short-term and long-term revision rates after lumbar spine discectomy versus laminectomy: a population-based cohort study

Background/objective Degenerative diseases of the lumbar spine were managed with discectomy or laminectomy. This study aimed to compare these two surgical treatments in the postoperative revision rates. Design A population-based cohort study from analysis of a healthcare database. Setting Data were gathered from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). Participants We enrolled 16 048 patients (4450 women and 11 598 men) with a mean age of 40.34 years who underwent lumbar discectomy or laminectomy for the first time between 1 January 1997 and 31 December 2007. All patients were followed up for 5 years or until death. Results Revision rate within 3 months of the index surgery was significantly higher in patients who underwent discectomy (2.75%) than in those who underwent laminectomy (1.18%; p<0.0001). This difference persisted over the first year following the index surgery (3.38% vs 2.57%). One year afterwards, the revision rates were similar between the discectomy (9.75%) and laminectomy (9.69%) groups. The final spinal fusion surgery rates were also similar between the groups (11.25% vs 12.08%). Conclusion The revision rate after lumbar discectomy was higher than that after laminectomy within 1 year of the index surgery. However, differences were not identified between patient groups for the two procedures with respect to long-term revision rates and the proportion of patients who required final spinal fusion surgery.

One-year mortality and Periprosthetic infection rates after Total knee Arthroplasty in Cancer patients: a population-based cohort study

BackgroundKnowledge on periprosthetic infection and mortality rate following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is essential for justifying this treatment in patients with cancer; however, relevant data from population-based studies are lacking. Therefore, we examined 1-year periprosthetic infection, mortality, and 5-year relative survival rates in cancer patients who underwent TKA.MethodsThis is a population-based cohort study based on analysis of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. We enrolled a total of 2294 cancer patients and 131,849 patients without cancer (control group) who underwent TKA between January 1, 1997, and December 31, 2011. All patients were followed until death, infection, withdrawal from the National Health Insurance, or December 31, 2012.ResultsThe periprosthetic knee joint infection rate in cancer patients (1.73%) was not significantly higher than that in the control group (1.87%). However, the 1-year mortality rate was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the cancer group (4.10%) than in the control group (1.66%). The overall 5-year survival rate was 93.10% as compared with those without cancers.ConclusionLow periprosthetic knee joint infection rates and high 5-year relative survival rates indicate the feasibility of TKA in cancer patients. However, the surgeon should take into account a higher mortality rate in the first year following TKA.

Corticosteroid Is Associated with Both Hip Fracture and Fracture-Unrelated Arthropathy

Objective We aimed to investigate whether and how corticosteroid use was associated with serious hip arthropathy. Methods and Materials This population-based cohort study analyzed the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database and screened the one-million random sample from the entire population for eligibility. The steroid cohort consisted of 21,995 individuals who had used systemic corticosteroid for a minimum of 6 months between January 1, 1997 and December 31, 2006. They were matched 1:1 in propensity score on the index calendar date with controls who never used steroid. All participants were followed up until occurrence of serious hip arthropathy that required arthroplasty, withdrawal from the national health insurance, or the end of 2011. Surgical indication was classified as fracture-related and -unrelated. The cumulative incidence of hip arthroplasty was estimated by the Kaplan Meier method. The association with steroid exposure was explored by the Cox proportional hazard model. Results Cumulative incidences of hip arthroplasty after 12 years of follow-up were 2.96% (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.73–3.2%) and 1.34% (95% CI, 1.2–1.51%) in the steroid users and non-users, respectively (P<0.0001). The difference was evident in fracture-related arthroplasty with 1.89% (95% CI, 1.71–2.09%) versus 1.10% (95% CI, 0.97–1.25%), but more pronounced in fracture-unrelated surgery, 1.09% (95% CI, 0.95–1.24%) versus 0.24% (95% CI, 0.19–0.32%). Multivariate-adjusted Cox regression analysis confirmed steroid use was independently associated with both fracture-related (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 1.65; 95% CI, 1.43–1.91) and unrelated arthroplasty (adjusted HR, 4.21; 95% CI, 3.2–5.53). Moreover, the risk for fracture-unrelated arthropathy rose with steroid dosage, as the adjusted HR increased from 3.30 (95% CI, 2.44–4.46) in the low-dose subgroup, 4.54 (95% CI, 3.05–6.77) in intermediate-dose users, to 6.54 (95% CI, 4.74–9.02) in the high-dose counterpart (Ptrend<0.0001). Conclusions Corticosteroid use is associated with long-term risk of hip arthroplasty, particularly for fracture-unrelated arthropathy.

Use of corticosteroids is not associated with repeated vertebroplasty or kyphoplasty within one year after the surgery in patient older than 50 years

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate whether corticosteroid use increases the incidence of repeated PVP or kyphoplasty patients older than 50 years. Methods This study enrolled the data of 2,753 eligible patients from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database who were exposed to systemic corticosteroids for at least 3 months during the first year preceding the first PVP or kyphoplasty. These steroid users were matched 1:1 in age, sex, and the index date of surgery with non-user controls during the enrollment period. All patients were followed for 1 year after the first PVP or kyphoplasty. The incidence of repeated PVP or kyphoplasty was compared between the steroid users and controls. A Cox proportional hazards model was developed to account for multiple confounding factors. Results The number of patients receiving repeated PVP or kyphoplasty was 233 (8.46%) and 205 (7.45%) in the corticosteroid and control groups, respectively. The Cox proportional hazards model revealed no association between corticosteroid use and repeated PVP or kyphoplasty. Conclusions Systemic corticosteroid use for longer than 3 months is not associated with repeated PVP or kyphoplasty within one year of surgery in patient older than 50 years old. Level of evidence Level III, Therapeutic study.

Revision and Survival Rates After Total Knee Arthroplasty in Individuals Aged 70 and Older

prophylaxis could be discontinued. This may enable judicious use of antiviral agents, which can lead to cost savings and prevent the development of viral resistance. Multiplex PCR testing detected a dual-virus RCF outbreak, optimizing outbreak management, including antiviral stewardship. Microbiological confirmation of cases rather than epidemiological case finding should be considered when initial investigation identifies more than one viral pathogen.