Total joint replacement comes with a high success rate and has been shown to have a very positive impact on our patients suffering from arthritis. Against all efforts about 2 % of our patients will suffer an implant related infection. As the treatment of infected arthroplasties is difficult and expensive the knowledge of risk factors is becoming more and more important for the treatment team in order to improve our preventive measures. Prevention must be performed pre-, intra- and postoperatively. Preoperative optimization of blood sugar levels, nutritional status and correction of general anaemia for example are paramount and the general practitioner as well as the surgeon should be aware of these and other modifiable risk factors in order to operate on the patient in the best possible conditions.