Treatments for prosthetic joint infections (PJIs) are often assessed using a success or failure endpoint. Yet, this can fail to capture important outcomes for patients. A desirability of outcome ranking (DOOR) is a way of evaluating treatments in a more patient-focused form. This study found an outcome ranking using joint function, infection cure and quality of life. This helps to answer what are we trying to achieve for patients with PJI and how we measure the effectiveness of PJI treatments.

Patients who receive joint replacement surgery might suffer from infection, which usually requires another surgery to clean the prosthesis and remove infected tissue. This tissue is analysed for bacteria in order to start appropriate antibiotic therapy. Bacteria are not always found, calling the appropriateness of the second surgery into question. We compared the treatment outcome in a large group of culture-positive and culture-negative patients and noticed a better outcome in the latter group.