SynthesisMusculoskeletal surgery2022
The autoclaving and re-implantation of an infected prosthesis as a spacer during resection knee arthroplasty: a systematic review.
Synthesis in Musculoskeletal surgery, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Second Chances: A Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America Survey and Review of Current Practices and Attitudes Toward the Reuse of Deep Orthopaedic Implants.Journal of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America · 2026Article
- Real Component Spacers for Two-Stage Exchange Demonstrate Low Bacterial Colonization.Arthroplasty today · 2025Article
- Augmented Articulating Spacers in Infected Total Knee Arthroplasty: Surgical Technique.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Aseptic survival of the 1.5-stage exchange arthroplasty for periprosthetic joint infection was acceptable when using an autoclaved femoral component and a new polyethylene insert.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2023Article
- Articulating spacers: what are available and how to utilize them?Arthroplasty (London, England) · 2023Review
- The Usefulness of Synovial Fluid Proteome Analysis in Orthopaedics: Focus on Osteoarthritis and Periprosthetic Joint Infections.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHofmann et al., in 1995, first described an articulating spacer made by cleaning and autoclaving the original femoral component, which is then re-implanted with a new tibial polyethylene. This systematic review aims to assess the state of existing evidence on the intraoperative autoclaving and re-use of an infected prosthesis, as a spacer, during a two-stage revision following Periprosthetic Joint Infections (PJI).
methodsA systematic review was conducted with methods described in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. OVID-MEDLINE
resultsFourteen studies were included in this systematic review: two prospective case series; six retrospective comparative studies and six retrospective case series. The reviewed studies included 567 patients (571 knees): 394 patients treated with autoclaved components and 173 with a spacer made of new components. The cumulative re-infection rate in patients treated with re-used autoclaved components was 13.7% (54 re-infections in 394 patients), whereas in control patients the re-infection rate was 13.3% (23 re-infections in 173 patients). The final Range of Movement in patients treated using the autoclaved components as a spacer, compared with patients receiving static spacers, was significantly higher in three out of four comparative studies.
conclusionThere is a moderate level of evidence that the intraoperative autoclaving and re-use of an infected prosthesis as a spacer, during a knee resection arthroplasty, is an effective procedure in the management of knee PJI.
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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.