RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Two-stage exchange is a frequently performed procedure in patients who have a periprosthetic joint infection. Positive cultures when performing the second stage are perceived as a risk factor for reinfection. This study aimed to determine the impact of positive cultures during the second stage on the outcome of patients undergoing a 2-stage septic exchange and the impact of stopping the antibiotic treatment before reimplantation. METHODS: We systematically searched four databases. We performed a meta-analysis on the risk of complications after positive cultures during second stage and a subgroup analysis by antibiotic holiday period. We included 24 studies. RESULTS: Failure in the positive group was 37.0% and in the negative group was 13.7% with an odds ratio (OR) of 4.05. In the subgroup analysis by antibiotic holidays, failure rate without holidays was 15% and with holidays was 17.3% (P = .21). Failure in each group was higher when cultures were positive (without holidays, 25 versus 12.2%, P = .0003, and with holidays 41.1 versus 12.7%, P < .0001), but the risk of failure when cultures were positive was higher in the holiday group (OR 4.798) than in the nonholiday group (OR 2.225) in comparison to those patients who were culture negative at the second stage. CONCLUSIONS: Microbiological eradication at second stage was not obtained in 18% of cases and it was associated with a higher failure rate. In patients with positive cultures, withholding antibiotic treatment was associated with lower failure rate. Further studies to define the antibiotic strategy in 2-stage exchange procedure are necessary.