The Value of Bacterial Culture During Clean Orthopedic Surgery a Prospective Study of 1,036 Patients

Abstract Objective: To determine whether bacterial cultures of the wounds of patients undergoing clean orthopedic surgery would help predict infection. Methods: During 1 year, 1,256 cultures were performed for 1,102 patients who underwent clean orthopedic surgery. Results were analyzed to evaluate their ability to predict postoperative infection. Results: The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the cultures were 38%, 92%, 7%, and 99%, respectively. Conclusions: Cultures performed during clean orthopedic surgery were not useful for predicting postoperative infectio