Study population
infection, PJI, Musculoskeletal Infection
INFECTION
The present study was a prospective, single-centre clinical trial conducted in accordance with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Ethics Committee of Honghui Hospital Affiliated to Xi’an Jiao Tong University. Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects. Patients with suspected knee or hip PJI who underwent surgery at our institution between January 2020 and December 2022 were included. Patients were diagnosed with PJI based on the diagnostic criteria of the Musculoskeletal Infection Society (MSIS) (Flowchart detailing the procedure of this study.Diagnostic data including serum C-reactive protein (CRP), serum erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), synovial fluid white blood cell (WBC) count and polymorphonuclear neutrophil (PMN) percentage, and microbiological results were collected. Other data including patient age and sex, prosthesis site (hip or knee), type of infection (acute or chronic), and previous antimicrobial therapy including antimicrobial-free interval were collected. The positivity rate of culture and mNGS was compared between cases with and without previous antimicrobial therapy, and the positivity rate between cases with different antimicrobial-free intervals was also analysed.