Postarthroscopic Infection in the Knee following Medical or Dental Procedures

Abstract

Knee infection is a relatively rare complication after arthroscopic knee surgery (Babcok et al., 2002), with reported incidences ranging from 0.1% to 3.4% (Babcok et al., 2002 and Bert et al., 2007). Although postoperative dental and surgical procedures were formerly considered a risk factor for infection in arthroplasty patients, the American Dental Association (ADA) and Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery (AAOS) no longer recommend prophylactic antibiotics for patients with prosthetic joints and do not make recommendations concerning patients who have recently undergone arthroscopic surgery (J. M. Bert and T. M. Bert, 2010). We report two patients who had an uncomplicated postoperative course until having a procedure and then developed a septic knee.