This 2015 narrative review by Parvizi et al. surveys emerging strategies for preventing, diagnosing, and treating PJI, framed around the shift from a planktonic to a biofilm model of infection. It covers novel diagnostics, implant surface modifications, vaccination approaches, and new antibiotics, with input from FDA scientists, academic researchers, and industry.
When a PJI fails to clear with antibiotics alone, biofilm physiology is the explanation — sessile bacteria are up to 1,000× less susceptible than planktonic forms, which is why débridement with implant retention has meaningful failure rates and two-stage exchange remains the gold standard for chronic infection.
Understanding the biofilm paradigm also primes you to interpret emerging point-of-care diagnostics and novel implant coatings as you encounter them in practice.
This 2015 narrative review by Parvizi et al. surveys emerging strategies for preventing, diagnosing, and treating PJI, framed around the shift from a planktonic to a biofilm model of infection. It covers novel diagnostics, implant surface modifications, vaccination approaches, and new antibiotics, with input from FDA scientists, academic researchers, and industry.
When a PJI fails to clear with antibiotics alone, biofilm physiology is the explanation — sessile bacteria are up to 1,000× less susceptible than planktonic forms, which is why débridement with implant retention has meaningful failure rates and two-stage exchange remains the gold standard for chronic infection.
Understanding the biofilm paradigm also primes you to interpret emerging point-of-care diagnostics and novel implant coatings as you encounter them in practice.