Tag : Knee

Pennsylvania (US): According to a study, next-generation DNA sequencing (NGS) methods reveal the presence of bacterial DNA in surgical specimens of hip and knee arthritis from patients having first-time total joint arthroplasty. The findings of the study were published in the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio in partnership with Wolters Kluwer. The findings "add to an increasing body of evidence indicating that native joints harbor microbes, as part of a microbiome, although the clinical relevance of these findings and the mechanism of microbial colonization are still unknown," according to the new research by Javad Parvizi, MD, FRCS, of Rothman Orthopaedic Institute at Thomas Jefferson University and colleagues. Extensive study has been conducted in recent years to investigate the impact of microbiomes (the kinds and variety of bacteria found in various bodily regions) on human health and illness. Researchers can use powerful NGS methods to identify evidence of bacterial DNA that would otherwise go unnoticed. Even when no particular bacterial cause is established, infection is a primary cause of joint failure in individuals having total joint arthroplasty. In the past, it was thought that the native hip and knee joints, as well as other body areas unaffected by surgery or other potential causes of contamination, were sterile. However, recent microbiome studies have found bacterial DNA in many "body sites previously assumed to be sterile," for example, in a developing fetus, the breast, and the shoulder joint. In the new study, Dr. Parvizi and colleagues obtained intraoperative samples of synovial fluid, deep-tissue specimens, and intramedullary swabs from the operative hip or knee f ...