Pre TKR seminar.

[partsman805]

Yesterday I went to a seminar that my doctor was doing in conjunction with DuPuy. It covered the complete process starting ten days before surgery, day of the surgery,days, weeks and months after TKR. One thing I learned is my doctor does a nasal swab ten days before surgery looking for staph infection. They a found that almost ten percent of the population carries the staph virus and being a carrier your chance of infection from surgery is greater. I have had six operation in the past ten years on my knees at some well know hospitals in the Los Angeles area and this is a first. He mentioned its is a precaution that he has taken and his infection rate is zero. This is one of the things that has made me more comfortable with my new surgeon. Has any one else heard of this?
This time around my wife and I know what to expect on my recovery and the process. So much has changed since the first partial seven years ago. I have a good feeling now.

 

[Florida 1]

The hospital where I had my TKR last week did the same swab at my pre-op appointment prior to surgery. They also went over prevention, etc. She told me they had one of the lowest infection rates in the state and intended to keep it that way! I don't remember this being done earlier in the year prior to my unrelated surgery at a different hospital, but I don't remember anything they did at that pre-op.

 

[Titianlady]

Wow, that makes a lot of sense. My surgeon didn't do the swab! But , he only keeps his replacement patients that have one knee done in the hospital for a total of 2 days. He said the less time in hospital, the less chance of infection since hospitals are a germ factory!

 

[Knitter4444]

When I had my BTKR 2 years ago, I did not have the swabs or even the cleansing done. 9 weeks ago, I had spacer exchanges and had to go though the entire process. Now I am having manipulation and assume since it is not open surgery, I will not have to have it. Probably not even being done in the ortho OR. (I am in CA also..San Francisco)

 

[Josephine]

In the UK, we've been taking swabs of nose, mouth and perineum for around 6 years to my knowledge. Everyone is done, not because of the surgery they are having, but to avoid contamination being taken into the ward. Generally, people don't infect themselves but they can readily infect other people as they can be carriers of the MRSA bug. You have to understand that staph areus (SA) is actually a natural and necessary commensal in the human body. Whether it's mutated into the methycillin resistant (MR) type or not is the question.

 

[Orthodoc]

The use of nasal swabs (in the U.S.) have become more prevalent after the publication of this study:

"Institutional Prescreening for Detection and Eradication of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Patients Undergoing Elective Orthopaedic Surgery"

https://jbjs.org/article.aspx?articleid=6108

Orthodoc