• Tilman Hees, Yassen Abdelatif, Katrin Karpinski, Sebastian Bierke, Martin Häner, Hi Un Park, and Wolf Petersen.
• Klinik Für Orthopädie Und Unfallchirurgie, Martin Luther Krankenhaus, Grunewald Caspar Theyss Strasse 27-31, 14193, Berlin, Germany.
• Arch Orthop Trauma Surg. 2022 Jun 1; 142 (6): 1141-1146.

PurposeThe aim of the present study was to evaluate if the vancomycin (1 mg/ml) is effective for the prevention of septic arthritis after ACL reconstruction. The hypothesis was that local antibiotic prophylaxis by soaking ACL grafts in vancomycin results in significantly less infections than ACL reconstruction without local antibiosis.MethodsIn group 1, 636 patients who were operated between 1.9.2014 and 31.8.2016 received no local antibiotic treatment with vancomycin. In group 2, 536 patients who were operated between 1.9.2016 and 31.8.2018 received local antibiotic treatment with vancomycin (1 mg/ml). In this group the graft was soaked in the vancomycin solution for 10 min prior to graft passage and fixation.ResultsIn group 1 (ACL reconstruction without vancomycin application), a postoperative infection was detected in ten patients (infection rate: 1.6%). In group 2 (ACL reconstruction with 1 mg/ml vancomycin), no postoperative infection was detected (infection rate: 0%). The statistical analysis showed a clear significant difference between the two groups (p = 0.002). The re-rupture rate and the rate of arthrofibrosis differed not significantly between the two treatment groups (p = 0.526).ConclusionThe results of the present study show that graft soaking in vancomycin (1 mg/ml) is effective for the prevention of septic arthritis after ACL reconstruction.Level Of EvidenceIII.© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

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