Intravenous drug abuse is a risk factor in the failure of two-stage treatment for infected total hip arthroplasty

Reinfection after two-stage revision hip arthroplasty (RHA) is still a complex issue. Only few studies revealed the factors affecting the success rate in the treatment of periprosthetic hip infection (PHI), especially risk factors. A retrospective study was conducted using records of 30 patients underwent two-stage RHA for infected total hip arthroplasty (THA). Treatment was defined as successful if a patient did not need any reoperation or invasive procedure such as image-guided drainage during the two years after reimplantation. Treatment was defined as failure if any surgery or invasive procedure or long-term antibiotic suppression was considered necessary to control infection. Four patients had infection recurrence defined as failed and three of them had intravenous drug abuse. Twenty-six patients had no infection recurrence at the end of follow-up and one of them had intravenous drug abuse but quitting after surgery. We suggest that once adequate cleaning up achieved, risk of reinfection may be little even in immunocompromised patients with RHA because of relative less old age than those with revisional total knee arthroplasty. Patients of the reinfection group were younger and non-obese with adequate nutritional status. We may consider intravenous drug abuse could take a great toll on health and lead to reinfection. Finally, we suggest performing the gold-standard two-stage reimplantation technique to manage cases with infection, educating drug abusers regarding the risk of surgical failure, and implementing a quitting program at least 1 year before the index surgery.