%0 Journal Article
%T Value of digital telethermography for the diagnosis of septic knee prosthesis: a prospective cohort study
%A Roman¨° Carlo Luca
%A DˇŻAnchise Roberto
%A Calamita Marco
%A Manzi Giovanni
%J BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders
%D 2013
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2474-14-7
%X Background Diagnosis of peri-prosthetic infection remains challenging, often requiring a combination of different tests. Methods In this prospective, case¨Ccontrol study, the diagnostic accuracy of telethermography was evaluated in a group of seventy patients who had had a total knee replacement and were undergoing a reoperation because of infection or another implant-related problem, after a minimum of one year from implant. Results An average differential temperature of the affected versus not affected knee of 1.9ˇăC was observed in infected prosthesis, compared to 0.3ˇăC in aseptic failures. Considering a normal reference value equal or less than 1.0ˇăC, telethermography showed an accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value of, respectively: 0.90, 0.89, 0.91, 0.91, 0.88. Conclusions Digital telethermography is a reliable option for diagnosing peri-prosthetic knee infection.
%K Knee
%K Total knee replacement
%K TKR
%K Infection
%K Thermography
%K Diagnosis
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2474/14/7