Diagnosing Fracture-Related Infections: Where Are We Now?

Accurate diagnosis of fracture-related infection (FRI) is critical for preventing poor outcomes such as loss of function or amputation. Due to the multiple variables associated with FRI, however, accurate diagnosis is challenging and complicated by a lack of standardized diagnostic criteria. Limitations with the current gold standard for diagnosis, which is routine microbiology culture, further complicate the diagnostic and management process. Efforts to optimize the process rely on a foundation of data derived from prosthetic joint infections (PJI), but differences in PJI and FRI make it clear that unique approaches for these distinct infections are required. A more concerted effort focusing on FRI has dominated more recent investigations and publications leading to a consensus definition by the American Orthopedics (AO) Foundation and the European Bone and Joint Infection Society (EBJIS). This has the potential to better standardize the diagnostic process, which will not only improve patient care but also facilitate more robust and reproducible research related to the diagnosis and management of FRI. The purpose of this minireview is to explore the consensus definition, describe the foundation of data supporting current FRI diagnostic techniques, and identify pathways for optimization of clinical microbiology-based strategies and data.

Utilizing a Quality Improvement Approach to improve Positioning of Acute Burn Patients.

Patient positioning, using "anti-deformity positioning," is a standard practice in burn rehabilitation to assist with edema management, scar contracture prevention, and wound healing. Consistently providing proper positioning requires the combined effort of the multidisciplinary burn team. Our primary goal was to increase the frequency that patients were correctly positioned to over 90%. At a medium-sized, academic burn unit, random audits were conducted by burn lead therapists on the compliance of proper patient positioning over six months. Using this data as a trigger, a quality improvement project was designed using the PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) cycle. Surveys were distributed to therapy and nursing staff to identify barriers to proper positioning. Effects on positioning compliance post-intervention were monitored. In the six months prior to intervention, average correct positioning was 76%. Surveys identified the following barriers to care: nursing needed more education and the approach was too heavily reliant on nursing efforts alone. To address this, therapists provided education to all nurses, communicated daily about positioning expectations, shifted the project to a multidisciplinary approach, and made changes in therapy workflow. The median compliance improved from 79% to 91% (p < 0.05). Coordinating efforts of the entire burn team improves consistency for positioning in burn patients. Utilizing the PDSA cycle allowed us to identify areas for improvement and develop appropriate interventions to increase education for nursing staff and workflow improvements for therapists. Following the completion of our interventions we were able to obtain an immediate improvement in our patient positioning compliance.

Bilateral, Bipedicled DIEP Flap for Staged Reconstruction of Cranial Deformity.

The deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) adipocutaneous flap is a versatile flap that has been most popularly used in breast reconstruction. However, it has been applied to many other anatomic areas and circumstances that require free-tissue transfer. We present a case report of the use of the DIEP flap for the reconstruction of severe craniomaxillofacial deformity complicated by indolent infection in a gentleman with infected hardware and methyl methacrylate overlay used in previous repair of traumatic injuries suffered from a motor vehicle collision. The reconstruction was done in a staged, two-step fashion that allowed for adequate infection eradication and treatment using a bilateral, bipedicled DIEP flap for tissue coverage and intravenous antibiotics before the delayed insertion of a polyetheretherketone cranioplasty for reconstruction of the cranial defect.