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The Fight Against the Slime: Can We Ever Win?

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Perioperative Medical Management for Total Joint Arthroplasty

Abstract

Microorganisms universally attach to surface and produce extracellular matrix of polysaccharidic nature termed slime. This phenomenon is now regularly referred to as biofilm formation. Biofilm-associated infections pose a serious problem for public health because bacteria growing in a biofilm are more recalcitrant to the action of antibiotics and host defenses than cells growing in a planktonic state. In orthopedic surgery, such proprieties of biofilm made prosthesis-associated infection a devastating complication. In such a “war,” the prevention with adequate pharmacological prophylaxis, pathogen-specific treatment, and the combination antimicrobial regimens are of paramount importance.

The better knowledge in PJI pathogenesis and biofilm formation, reached in these last years, is a new weapon in the armamentarium of physicians.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Alessia Diaco for the support given in building figures and the editors for the excellent opportunity of writing a chapter of this book.

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  1. Ortopedia e Traumatologia I, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Pisana, Via Paradisa 2, Pisa, 56124, Italy

    Michele Lisanti, Nicola Piolanti, Lorenzo Andreani & Paolo Parchi

  2. U.O. Malattie Infettive, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Pisana, Via Paradisa 2, Pisa, 56124, Italy

    Enrico Tagliaferri & Francesco Menichetti

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  1. Michele Lisanti
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Correspondence to Nicola Piolanti .

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    Andrea Baldini

  2. San Donato Hospital, Arezzo, Italy

    Patrizio Caldora

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Lisanti, M., Piolanti, N., Tagliaferri, E., Andreani, L., Parchi, P., Menichetti, F. (2015). The Fight Against the Slime: Can We Ever Win?. In: Baldini, A., Caldora, P. (eds) Perioperative Medical Management for Total Joint Arthroplasty. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07203-6_21

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