The influence of antibiotic-loaded cement spacers on the risk of reinfection after septic two-stage hip revision surgery

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was the evaluation of possible outcome differences of patients undergoing two-stage hip exchange with antibiotic-loaded spacers, compared to patients without an interim spacer implantation. METHODS: We evaluated 46 patients undergoing two-stage hip revision surgery. Twenty-five patients received an interim ALS. Additional to a Kaplan–Meier survival analysis, a competing risk analysis was performed to estimate the cumulative incidence function for re-revisions due to infection accounting for death as a competing event. RESULTS: Nine patients (seven non-ALS vs. two ALS) had to undergo re-revision surgery due to reinfection of the hip joint. The non-ALS group showed a risk of re-revision of 19% (95% CI 5–38%) at 12 and 24 months and 30% (95% CI 12–51%) at 36 months. The group with ALS implantation displayed a 0% risk of re-revision surgery in the first 36 months. The Gray test revealed a significant difference in the cumulative incidence between both observed groups (p = 0.026). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that ALS implantation significantly reduces the risk of reinfection after two-stage hip revision surgery.