• Miwa Kishimoto, Hayato Yamana, Satoki Inoue, Tatsuya Noda, Manabu Akahane, Yusuke Inagaki, Hiroki Matsui, Hideo Yasunaga, Masahiko Kawaguchi, and Tomoaki Imamura.
• Department of Public Health, Health Management and Policy, Nara Medical University, 840, Shijo-cho, Kashihara, Nara, 634-8521, Japan. miwakishimoto@gmail.com.
• Can J Anaesth. 2018 Aug 1; 65 (8): 893-900.

PurposePeriprosthetic joint infection is a serious complication of total knee arthroplasty. Though there are many factors that might increase its risk, the use of propofol for maintaining general anesthesia could theoretically increase the incidence of infection because of its lipid component that supports bacterial growth. Nevertheless, the relationship between anesthetic maintenance agents and the occurrence of periprosthetic joint infection remains uncertain. The purpose of this study was to compare the incidence of suspected early-onset periprosthetic joint infection between patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty under propofol vs sevoflurane anesthesia.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients in the national inpatient Diagnosis Procedure Combination database in Japan who underwent total knee arthroplasty. Suspected periprosthetic joint infection was surrogately defined as the need for arthrocentesis or debridement within 30 days of surgery. Propensity score matching was performed between patients who received either propofol or sevoflurane for anesthetic maintenance to determine the proportion of those with infection.ResultsEligible patients (n = 21,899) were categorized into either the propofol (n = 7,439) or sevoflurane (n = 14,460) groups. In the 5,140 propensity-matched patient pairs, there was no significant difference in the proportion of arthrocentesis or debridement [1.3% propofol vs 1.7% sevoflurane; respectively (relative risk, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.55 to 1.04; P = 0.10)] between the groups. The mean (SD) length of stay in the propofol group was significantly longer than in the sevoflurane group [32.5 (18.4) days vs 31.4 (14.4) days, respectively; mean difference, 1.1; 95% CI, 0.5 to 1.8; P < 0.001].ConclusionPropensity score analysis suggested no significant association between the choice of anesthetic maintenance agent and the occurrence of suspected early-onset periprosthetic joint infection in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty.

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