Early Discrimination of Periprosthetic Hip Infections Using Neural Networks (SEPTIC-ANNR)

The study is about the role of cellular neural networks-genetic algorithm in the diagnosis of periprosthetic hip infections. A retrospective case series of septic and aseptic loosening of primary hip arthroplasties is selected. The diagnosis of septic loosening is made according to well-established criteria (CDC 2014 and culture samples). The serial radiographs of the selected patients are processed using cellular neural networks-genetic algorithm. The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether neural networks (cellular neural networks-genetic algorithm), applied to conventional radiographies, are accurate, sensitive and specific for the early-discrimination of a periprosthetic hip infection, already diagnosed with well-recognized methods (CDC 2014).