Determining the relation between total knee arthroplasty surgery site drainage in two weeks after surgery with periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) in two years.

BACKGROUND: Prosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a devastating complication in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) surgeries and prompt diagnosis and treatment are vital; however, no study has been conducted to determine the relationship between characteristics and duration of surgical site discharge and PJI. METHODS: This is a longitudinal observational study that was performed at Al-Zahra and Kashani and Sadi university hospitals from 2017 until 2019. A total of 961 elective TKA were performed on 850 consecutive patients. Patients were followed up for two years after surgery. Data regarding the occurrence of discharges, types of discharges, duration of discharges, the incidence of PJI and superficial infections were collected. RESULTS: The rate of superficial and prosthetic joint infection was 0.3% and 0.3%. Patients with infections (either PJI or superficial) had a longer duration of discharge (14.6 days and 13.3 days in PJI and superficial infections respectively, compared to 7.7 days in all of the study population); Bloody-purulent discharge was associated with the development of prosthetic and superficial infections. CONCLUSION: Bloody purulent discharge reaching seven days postsurgical in TKA patients is highly suggestive of an underlying infection (PJI or superficial infection) but type and duration of discharge could not be used to differentiate between PJI and superficial infection. Other risk factors for PJI or superficial infection include women's gender, longer surgical duration, longer hospitalization and longer discharge duration.

The relationship between dialysis adequacy and serum uric acid in dialysis patients; a cross-sectional multi-center study in Iranian hemodialysis centers.

Introduction: Uric acid is one of the most significant uremic toxins accumulating in chronic renal failure patients treated with standard dialysis. Its clearance has not any exact relation with urea and creatinine clearance. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between adequacy of dialysis and serum level of uric acid in dialysis patients of some dialysis centers in Iran. Patients and Methods: In this study 1271 hemodialysis patients who have been treated for more than 3 months were evaluated. Their information and examinations from their files in all over the country were gathered and analyzed using SPSS versin18.0. Results: In this study, a significant relationship between dialysis duration and serum level of uric acid was not detected, however, a significant relationship between patients Kt/V and uric acid (R=0.43, P=0.029) was seen. Patients who had higher adequacy of dialysis had a higher level of plasma uric acid. Conclusion: For better controlling of plasma uric acid level of hemodialysis patients, increasing of the adequacy of dialysis or its duration is not effective. Other modalities of decreasing of serum uric acid like, changing diet or lifestyle or medical therapy may be necessary.