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.

Culture-negative (CN) prosthetic joint infections (PJIs) present significant challenges for clinicians. While previous retrospective analyses have been conducted, inconsistencies in inclusion criteria and treatment success measures limit the opportunity for direct comparisons and use in guiding clinical practice. We compared baseline characteristics and outcomes of CN with culture-positive (CP) cases in a large multicentre prospective cohort and demonstrated improved overall outcomes in CN PJI.