Journal of Surgery

Total Knee Arthroplasty Infected by Brucella melitensis: Septic Loosening and Long-Term Results of Two-Stage Revision Knee Arthroplasty

Abstract

Fatih Karaaslan, Musa Uğur Mermerkaya, Sinan Karaoğlu and Mehmet Ayvaz

Brucella infection associated with arthroplasty is a rare event. An unspecific clinical symptomatology is associated with unclear radiographic signs of periprosthetic bone halisteresis. Only a positive anamnesis combined with an antibiogram of the joint liquid and a high serum antibody titer can lead to a definitive diagnosis. We herein report a case of Brucella melitensis infection in a patient who underwent total knee arthroplasty 2 years earlier. Plain radiography and bone scintigraphy confirmed septic loosening. The patient was successfully treated with two-stage revision arthroplasty.