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Total knee replacement & staph infection

And one other question...I heard from a lady at work that when you get a staph infection in a knee replacement, or any replaced joint, that you will always have staph dorment in it, and an injury or even stress can cause it to flair up again...does anyone know if this is true? I can't seem to get a straight answer from my doctor - I don't know why.
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Avatar universal
I was rushed to the hospital with chest pains and pain in my knee replacement.  It was found that the chest pain was from pancreatitis caused by taking a medication I shouldn't have taken because I no longer have a gall bladder, and my knee replacement that was 15 months old became infected, I would like to know if the infection in my knee could have been caused by the pancreatitis?
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Avatar universal
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hello!

You need to check for infection if you have any signs of inflammation. Redness, swelling and pain denote some inflammation and it may be due to infection.
You can only be sure till you are confirmed and you can always send a sample for culture only if it is chronic or else an antibiotic course will cure the infection after the orthopedician examines.

The pain may be due to some ligament problem also.

MRI will show the ligaments and soft tissue and X-ray will show the state of the bones. You can also test for C reactive protein in your blood for any recent infection.

You need to follow near an expert knee surgeon for this and take the proper course of action and if needed regular follow ups.

Take care!
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Avatar universal
Thank you for the post, but did you catch my original post about 10minutes before the one you answered? They had me on so many IV antibiotic when this happened. They never went and did anything to the joint itself. Is it true that the joint, prosthesis, has staff      in it still and is that why it hurts so much still? I pulled my medial ligament by the knee replacement recently and have been feeling "sick" like I felt three years ago when the sepsis set in and almost died. I just want to know if I need to have them go in and either culture it or what???? Help. I don't want to end up in a respirator again and possibllly not have it come out with me alive this time.
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Avatar universal
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hello!

Strict asepsis should be maintained and the primary problem for knee replacements is infection and secondary is deep vein thrombosis.
With infection the healing is disturbed and it becomes very difficult to treat and you have to follow regular exercises at your ankle to avoid deep vein thrombosis.

If infection is not completely cured it relapses and also there are resistant staphylococci to many antibiotics. You need to send the sample for culture to determine the antibiotic sensitivity in resistant and relapse cases.

Take care!
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