whereas the other coagulase-negative staphylococci were more frequently
contaminants.
Most streptococcal and Corynebacterium isolates were pathogens. The likelihood that an
organism was a pathogen or contaminant differed with the prosthetic joint location, particularly in the case of
Propionibacterium acnes. MALDI-TOF MS is a valuable tool for the identification of bacteria isolated from patients
with prosthetic joints, providing species-level identification that may inform culture interpretation of pathogens
versus contaminants.