Continuous high-dose vancomycin combination therapy for methicillin-resistant staphylococcal prosthetic hip infection: a prospective cohort study

Few data are available on treatment and outcome of methicillin-resistant (MR) staphylococcal prosthetic joint infections. Vancomycin remains the treatment of choice for these infections, but its efficacy and safety in bone-and-joint infections are insufficiently documented. We conducted a prospective cohort study on 60 patients treated between November 2002 and December 2008 for chronic MR staphylococcal (44 S. epidermidis, nine other coagulase-negative Staphylococcus and seven S. aureus) prosthetic hip infections (PHIs). Twentytwo patients had previously undergone surgery for their PHI and 21 had previously received antibiotics. All patients had surgery (exchange arthroplasty for 58 patients, resection arthroplasty for two) and received an antibiotic regimen combining high-dose continuous intravenous vancomycin infusion (target serum concentration 30-40 mg/L) with another antibiotic for 6 weeks, followed by an additional 6 weeks of oral intake. Two years after surgery, infection was considered cured in 41 (68%) patients and only two relapses occurred after one-stage exchange arthroplasty. Nineteen (32%) patients experienced nephrotoxicity that was generally mild (RIFLE class R for 14 patients, class I for four patients and class F for one patient) and most often reversible. Continuous high-dose intravenous vancomycin combination therapy is an effective, feasible and reasonably safe treatment of chronic MR staphylococcal PHI.