Assessing risk of prosthetic joint infection

This chapter discusses assessing the risk of prosthetic joint infection (PJI) and includes discussion on high-risk patients (classified by age, skin colour, extracellular matrix, cellular turnover, diabetes, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, previous periarticular fractures and skin disorders). The aim is to allow the practitioner to identify high-risk patient attributes that can be positively influenced such that the risk of PJI is reduced. There are some patients with more than one risk factor and, as such, every effort must be made to reduce each even if there is a marginal gain in each. Delaying elective surgery until the risks of PJI are reduced must be encouraged but must be balanced with alleviating patient symptoms.