Robots, Navigation, and Infection After THA — Believe It, or Not
No-difference findings are important, but the details matter . . . and this one falls short
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Editor’s Note: Sometimes at CORRelations, we’ll cover an article we think is likely to cross your desk, but is one whose message we have reservations about. Here’s one. — SSL
What’s the Claim?
A propensity score–matched comparison of technology-assisted THA (robotic or navigated) with conventional THA sought to determine whether those time-consuming adjuncts, which also involve more equipment and sometimes additional personnel and more incisions, are associated with an increased risk of prosthetic joint infection (PJI). The authors concluded that these tools did not increase the risk of infection.
This is a hot topic, and since this paper was published alongside a press release, I thought it worth covering.
- I’ve got real concerns about this conclusion, and I do not have confidence in its main findings.
