Clinical orthopaedics and related research
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Clin. Orthop. Relat. Res. · Jun 2008
ReviewMultidrug-resistant organisms in military wounds from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mortality from battlefield wounds has historically declined, thanks to better surgical management, faster transport of casualties, and improved antibiotics. Today, one of the major challenges facing U. S. military caregivers is the presence of multidrug-resistant organisms in orthopaedic extremity wounds. ⋯ Overuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics may be an important factor in building resistant strains. Acinetobacter infections appear to hospital-acquired and not from an initial colonization of the injury. More research is required to give military physicians the tools they require to reduce the infection rate and defeat multidrug-resistant organisms.
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Clin. Orthop. Relat. Res. · Jun 2008
Controlled Clinical TrialA preoperative decolonization protocol for staphylococcus aureus prevents orthopaedic infections.
Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is an independent risk factor for orthopaedic surgical site infection (SSI). To determine whether a preoperative decolonization protocol reduces S. aureus SSIs, we conducted a prospective observational study of patients undergoing elective total joint arthroplasty (TJA) at our institution, with two control groups. The concurrent control group comprised patients of surgeons who did not participate in the intervention study. The preintervention control group comprised patients of participating surgeons who had undergone elective TJA during the year before the study. Patients in the intervention group were screened preoperatively for S. aureus by nasal swab cultures. S. aureus carriers were decolonized with mupirocin ointment to the nares twice daily and chlorhexidine bath once daily for 5 days before surgery. All 164 of 636 participants (26%) who tested positive completed the decolonization protocol without adverse events and had no postoperative S. aureus SSIs at 1-year followup. In contrast, 1330 concurrent control patients had 12 S. aureus infections. If these infections had occurred in the 26% of patients expected to be nasal carriers of S. aureus at a given time, the infection rate would have been 3.5% (12 of 345) in the control group. In addition, the overall infection rate of the participating surgeons, including nonstaphylococcal infections, decreased from 2.6% during the preintervention period to 1.5% during the intervention period, translating to an adjusted economic gain of $231,741 for the hospital. The data suggest a preoperative decolonization protocol reduces S. aureus SSIs in patients undergoing TJA. ⋯ Level II, therapeutic study. See the Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
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Clin. Orthop. Relat. Res. · Jun 2008
New tendon transfer for correction of drop-foot in common peroneal nerve palsy.
Common peroneal nerve palsy has been reported to be the most frequent lower extremity palsy characterized by a supinated equinovarus foot deformity and foot drop. Dynamic tendon transposition represents the gold standard for surgical restoration of dorsiflexion of a permanently paralyzed foot. Between 1998 and 2005, we operated on a selected series of 16 patients with traumatic complete common peroneal nerve palsy. In all cases, we performed a double tendon transfer through the interosseous membrane. The posterior tibialis tendon was transferred to the tibialis anterior rerouted through a new insertion on the third cuneiform and the flexor digitorum longus was transferred to the extensor digitorum longus and extensor hallucis longus tendons. All 16 patients were reviewed at a minimum followup of 24 months (mean, 65 months; range, 24-114 months). The results were assessed using the Stanmore system questionnaire and were classified as excellent in eight, good in five, fair in two, and poor in one. Postoperative static and dynamic baropodometric evaluations also were performed. The proposed procedure, which provides an appropriate direction of pull with adequate length and fixation, is a reliable new method to restore balanced foot dorsiflexion correcting the foot and digit drop and producing a normal gait without the use of orthoses. ⋯ Level IV, therapeutic study. See the Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.