Fresh From Philadelphia, Best Practices For Avoiding Joint Replacement Infections
By Lynne Adkins
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- International experts meeting in Philadelphia have just written a set of guidelines for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of infections encountered during joint replacement surgery.
Infections resulting from joint replacement are rare but do happen, according to Dr. Javad Parvizi of the Rothman Institute at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
So he gathered hundreds of people from around the world to formulate one set of standards for dealing with the threat of infections, because until now there was no universal agreement.
"One surgeon may wash their hands five minutes with one agent, another may wash for one minute with another agent," Dr. Parvizi explains, "so that's why we had the world's experts sit here and decide which of those practices were the right thing to do for the patients."
More than 300 people agreed on the document that contains 246 different items. The guidelines are already being sent around the world to become the standard of care for avoiding infection in joint replacement surgeries.
