Infections de prothese. Presentation du probleme

Various foreign bodies (prosthesis, vascular catheters, ) are now widely used. The infection of these prosthesis - « privileged sanctuary for infection- is of low incidence for most of them ;however, clinical consequences of such infections are often disastrous. The various modes of contamination of the prosthetic material (per operative contamination or late graft seeding) are discussed, as well as the principles of antibiotic prophylaxis to avoid a bactériemic graft on the medical device. Insidious clinical features of many prosthesis infections are emphasized, as well as the difficult interpretation of bacteriological samples taken at the site of presumed infection. Some experimental modes of prevention of foreign bodies infections are briefly presented. © 1987.SCOPUS: ar.j