[Study on effectiveness of antibiotics guided by metagenomic next-generation sequencing to control infection after total knee arthroplasty].

Objective: To explore the clinical value of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) in diagnosis and treatment of periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Methods: Between April 2020 and March 2023, 10 patients with PJI after TKA were admitted. There were 3 males and 7 females with an average age of 69.9 years (range, 44-83 years). Infection occurred after 8-35 months of TKA (mean, 19.5 months). The duration of infection ranged from 16 to 128 days (mean, 37 days). The preoperative erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was 15-85 mm/1 h (mean, 50.2 mm/1 h). The C reactive protein (CRP) was 4.4-410.0 mg/L (mean, 192.8 mg/L). The white blood cell counting was (3.4-23.8)×10 Results: Seven cases (70%) were detected as positive by bacterial culture method, and 7 types of pathogenic bacteria were detected; the most common pathogenic bacterium was Conclusion: Compared with bacterial culture method, mNGS test can more rapidly and accurately detect pathogenic bacteria for PJI after TKA, which is important for guiding antibiotics combined with surgical treatment of PJI.