The often poor clinical outcome of infected total knee arthroplasty.

The clinical outcomes of various options of treatment in 26 infected total knee arthroplasties (TKAs) with successful eradication and no recurrence of infection for at least 2 years were compared. There were 20 women and 6 men with an average age of 67.7 years. The average follow-up time was 48 months (range, 24-83 months). The evaluation parameters included pain score, knee score, functional score, and radiograph of the knee. The TKAs with acute infection showed significantly better outcome and clinical results when compared with noninfected TKAs. The clinical outcome of chronic infection was less favorable. Arthrodesis achieved better pain relief, whereas reimplantation TKA showed better function. No significant difference in knee scores was observed, however, between reimplantation TKA and arthrodesis. Approximately 50% of reimplantation TKAs had mild-to-moderate knee pain. Copyright 2002, Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.