Fluorescent tetracycline bone labeling as an intraoperative tool to debride necrotic bone during septic hip revision: a preliminary case series

A plausible cause of persistent infection after septic hip revision may be the presence of nonviable osteomyelitic bone. Since surgical excision of these necrotic fragments is often challenging, the use of fluorescent tetracycline bone labeling (FTBL) as an intraoperative tool may pose an additional assessment aid to provide a visual index of surgical debridement. Methods: We present a single-center study performed in a university hospital from January 2018 to June 2020, in which all consecutive cases of chronic hip periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) undergoing revision using FTBL were retrospectively reviewed. In all cases, the patient was under treatment with tetracyclines at the moment of the revision surgery. During the surgery, all bone failing to fluoresce was considered nonviable and thus removed and sent for both culture and histology. Results: We include three cases in which the FTBL technique was used. In all cases, the histopathological examinations of the nonfluorescent removed bone were consistent with chronic osteomyelitis. Conclusion: The intraoperative use of FTBL successfully aided the surgeon to detect the presence of nonviable bone in all the presented cases of chronic prosthetic hip infection.