Treatment outcome of two-stage revision total hip arthroplasty for infected hip arthroplasty using antibiotic-impregnated cement spacer.

Infected hip prosthesis, a serious complication of primary total hip arthroplasty (THA), can have severe consequences. We report the treatment outcome of two-stage revision THA for infected hip arthroplasty, including hemiarthroplasty, using an antibiotic-impregnated cement spacer for the interval between the first and second stages. Between 1996 and 2000 we performed this procedure on nine hips in eight patients. Cementless revision THA was performed as the second-stage procedure. Bone defects were restored with frozen allografts. The outcome was evaluated using the hip score of the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA hip score). The mean duration of follow-up was 35.7 months (range 10-55 months). The mean JOA hip score at follow-up improved from 30.1 (range 10-74) to 73.2 (24-96). The mean interval between the first and second stages was 10.1 weeks (range 6-19 weeks). Eight of the nine hips achieved a successful outcome. One hip, with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection, experienced recurrence 4 months after revision THA. This patient was successfully treated 14 months after the first revision THA with a second two-stage procedure using a vancomycin- and arbekacin-impregnated cement spacer and beads. These results suggest that two-stage revision THA using an antibiotic-impregnated cement spacer is a useful technique for treating infected hip arthroplasty.