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Surgeons find increase in total hip, total knee periprosthetic joint infection cases

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Periprosthetic joint infection cases in total hip arthroplasty and total knee arthroplasty have nearly doubled increased during the last decade and will place a significant economic burden on surgeons and hospitals, according to researchers from Philadelphia.

Relative to the current U.S. market size of orthopedics, “the future demand is expected to be quite large,” Steven M. Kurtz, PhD, stated in his presentation at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons 2012 Annual Meeting. He predicted an increase in the total associated costs of periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) in total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA) of $1 billion by the middle of this decade.

“It places a great burden not just on the surgeon but on the hospital resources relative to many other kinds of revision surgery,” Kurtz said.

Steven M. Kurtz

Kurtz and colleagues used the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, which includes 1,000 hospitals, for the study. During a 9-year period, they found 50,000 THAs and 105,000 TKAs with PJI, but the number of infections increased over time, he said. For THAs, infections increased from 4,545 in 2001 to 7,380 in 2008, while the number of PJIs in TKAs went from 7,113 to 15,983, according to the abstract.

Length of stay decreased during the time period, which decreased overall cost of care. After adjusting for the average cost per case, the total cost to treat PJI has remained about the same, Kurtz said. According to the abstract, the mean cost to treat hip PJI was $6,376 higher than the mean cost to treat PJI in knee cases.

Reference:

Kurtz SM, Lau E, Watson H, et al. Economic burden of periprosthetic joint infection in the United States. Paper #212. Presented at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons 2012 Annual Meeting. Feb. 7-11. San Francisco.

Disclosure: Kurtz has no relevant financial disclosures.