Corticosteroids within 2 weeks after knee arthroscopy may increase risk of infection
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Key takeaways:
- Corticosteroid injections within 2 weeks after knee arthroscopy were associated with an increased risk of infection.
- Corticosteroids within 2 to 4 weeks were also associated with infection to a lesser extent.
Published results showed corticosteroid injections within 2 weeks of knee arthroscopy may be associated with an increased risk of postoperative septic knee infection or surgical site infection at 90 days.
Jeremy Dubin, BA, from the Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics, and colleagues performed a retrospective study of data from patients who received postoperative ipsilateral corticosteroid injections (CSI) after primary knee arthroscopy between Oct. 1, 2015, and Oct. 31, 2022. Primary outcome measure was septic knee infection or surgical site infection at 90 days.
According to the study, 1,676 patients received a CSI within 2 weeks after surgery; 2,553 patients received a CSI within 2 to 4 weeks after surgery; 5,854 patients received a CSI within 4 to 6 weeks after surgery and 5,741 patients received a CSI within 6 to 8 weeks after surgery. Dubin and colleagues also assessed data from 20,000 control patients who did not receive a CSI during the study period.
Compared with the control cohort, Dubin and colleagues found patients who received a CSI within 0 to 2 weeks after surgery and patients who received a CSI within 2 to 4 weeks after surgery had increased risks for infection at 90 days postoperatively (OR = 3.31 and OR = 2.72, respectively). Dubin and colleagues noted patients who received a CSI within 0 to 2 weeks after surgery had greater odds of postoperative infection at 90 days (OR = 2.5) vs. patients who received a CSI within 2 to 4 weeks after surgery.
“While the role of CSI for the management of knee osteoarthritis and meniscal pathology has shown benefits as an adjunctive therapy to decrease pain and improve early function, the association between the timing of postoperative CSI and increased risk of infections following arthroscopy should be documented as well,” Dubin and colleagues wrote in the study. “This study allows clinicians to inform patients at more specific time points postoperatively, which was not the case in previous studies,” they concluded.
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