TY - JOUR T1 - Microbiological culture results for the femoral head. Are they important to the donor? JF - J Bone Joint Surg Br Y1 - 2004 A1 - James,L. A. A1 - Ibrahim,T. A1 - Esler,C. N. KW - *Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip KW - *Bone Banks KW - Aged KW - Antibiotic Prophylaxis KW - Bacteria / *isolation & purification KW - Bacterial Infections / *microbiology / prevention & control KW - Bone Transplantation KW - Female KW - Femur Head / *microbiology / transplantation KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Prospective Studies KW - Tissue Donors AB - We determined the rate of contamination of donated femoral heads at primary hip arthroplasty within a single region between July 1992 and July 2001. We established the null hypothesis that culture results played no role in predicting early failure of the joint because of infection. The rate of contamination was 9%. A positive culture, at the time of retrieval, was found in 367 of 4045 femoral heads. Coagulase-negative staphylococcus was isolated in 77% of the positive cases. At a minimum follow-up of one year, there was no statistically significant difference in the rate of complications or of revision of age-matched patients whose femoral heads had a positive culture compared with those whose femoral heads were sterile. Our findings confirm that culture of the femoral head plays no part in determining future failure of joint replacement in the donor. VL - 86 CP - 6 N1 - James, L A Ibrahim, T Esler, C N England The Journal of bone and joint surgery. British volume J Bone Joint Surg Br. 2004 Aug;86(6):797-800. ID - 737 ER -