Incidence, Risk Factors, and Management of Infection Following Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Surgery

BACKGROUND: Infection after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery (ACLRS) is a rare complication. Although there are number of studies from various Caucasian population but only few studies are available from Asian population. The aim of the study is to assess the incidence, risk factors and, clinical outcome using our treatment protocol. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Out of 1468 arthroscopic ACLRS, 26 patients with clinical suspicion of infection were critically analysed in terms of laboratory reports of arthrocentesis, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein and risk factors such as the type of graft, gender, diabetes mellitus, smoking, intraarticular steroid injection, and obesity. At final followup, all these patients were evaluated using visual analog scale (VAS), Lysholm knee score, and Tegner activity level. RESULTS: In nine patients, culture did not show any growth and they showed improvement with arthrocentesis and oral antibiotics. These patients were labeled as suffering from aseptic effusion. In the remaining 17 patients, there was no clinical improvement or instead worsening of symptoms after arthrocentesis and oral antibiotics. These patients were labeled as suffering from an infection and underwent surgical debridement along with administration of injectable antibiotics. The history of intraarticular steroid injection before ACLRS was a significant risk factor for developing infection (P = 0.001). At mean followup of 2.8 years, mean VAS improved to 1.18 ± 0.99 from 6.2 ± 2.3. The mean Lysholm knee score and Tegner's activity level at the final followup were 79.2 ± 10.52 and 4.8 ± 2.30, respectively. CONCLUSION: The incidence of infection was 1.2% (17/1468). The step-ladder approach of differentiating between aseptic effusion and infection and accordingly, following a treatment protocol, i.e., oral antibiotics alone or surgical debridement along with injectable antibiotics or additional debridement of graft in refractory patients, yielded satisfactory results.