ArticlePloS one2021
The impact of sonication cultures when the diagnosis of prosthetic joint infection is inconclusive.
Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Combating orthopedic implant biofilms - SABER (Study on Agitation for Biofilm Eradication and Reduction) evaluates mechanical, sonication, and radiofrequency approaches: a preclinical in vitro study.Acta orthopaedica · 2026Article
- Quantification of Sonicated Implants from Patients with Osteoarticular Implant Infections.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Candida albicans Periprosthetic Hip Infection Complicated by Recurrent Dislocations Following Revision Total Hip Arthroplasty: A Case Report.Journal of orthopaedic case reports · 2026Article
- High Charlson Comorbidity Index is associated with infection and mortality following surgical treatment of elderly proximal femoral fractures.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2025Article
- Saponin Improves Recovery of Bacteria from Orthopaedic Implants for Enhanced Diagnosis Ex Vivo.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- The application value and challenges of metagenomic next-generation sequencing in the diagnosis of periprosthetic joint infection after arthroplasty.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Review
- Improving the microbiological diagnosis of fracture-related infection and prosthetic joint infection through culturing sonication fluid in Bactec blood culture bottles.Brazilian journal of microbiology : [publication of the Brazilian Society for Microbiology] · 2024Article
- Article
- Making the diagnosis in prosthetic joint infection: a European view.EFORT open reviews · 2023Review
- Contribution of Sonication to the Identification of Megaprosthesis Infection in Culture Negative Oncologic Patient.The archives of bone and joint surgery · 2023Article
- The impact of a multidisciplinary team on the management of fracture-related infections: A surveillance study in Brazil.The Brazilian journal of infectious diseases : an official publication of the Brazilian Society of Infectious DiseasesArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn the absence of a gold standard criterion for diagnosing prosthetic joint infections (PJI), sonication of the removed implant may provide superior microbiological identification to synovial fluid and peri-implant tissue cultures. The aim of this retrospective study was to assess the role of sonication culture compared to tissue cultures for diagnosing PJI, using different consensus and international guidelines for PJI definition.
methodsData of 146 patients undergoing removal of hip or knee arthroplasties between 2010 and 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. The International Consensus Meeting (ICM-2018), Musculoskeletal Infection Society (MSIS), Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the European Bone and Joint Infection Society (EBJIS), and a modified clinical criterion, were used to compare the performance of microbiological tests. McNemar´s test and proportion comparison were employed to calculate p-value.
resultsOverall, 56% (82/146) were diagnosed with PJI using the clinical criteria. Out of these cases, 57% (47/82) tested positive on tissue culture and 93% (76/82) on sonication culture. Applying this clinical criterion, the sensitivity of sonication fluid and tissue cultures was 92.7% (95% CI: 87.1%- 98.3%) and 57.3% (95% CI: 46.6%-68.0%) (p<0.001), respectively. When both methods were combined for diagnosis (sonication and tissue cultures) sensitivity reached 96.3% (95% CI: 91.5%-100%). Sonication culture and the combination of sonication with tissue cultures, showed higher sensitivity rates than tissue cultures alone for all diagnostic criteria (ICM-18, MSIS, IDSA and EBJIS) applied. Conversely, tissue culture provided greater specificity than sonication culture for all the criteria assessed, except for the EBJIS criteria, in which sonication and tissue cultures specificity was 100% and 95.3% (95% CI: 87.8-100%), respectively (p = 0.024).
conclusionsIn a context where diagnostic criteria available have shortcomings and tissue cultures remain the gold standard, sonication cultures can aid PJI diagnosis, especially when diagnostic criteria are inconclusive due to some important missing data (joint puncture, histology).
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.