Risk Factors and Preventive Measures of External Fixator-related Infections in Orthopedics / 中华医院感染学杂志

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE To analyze the major reasons of wound infection after external fixator application and then introduce management measures to prevent following wound infections. METHODS Totally 542 patients adopting external fixators between May 2005 and May 2007 were retrospectively reviewed. All the external fixator-related infections were inspected and the excretions from these infected wounds were collected to perform bacterial culturing. RESULTS The total infection rate of these 542 patients after external fixator application was 2.77%. Among them, six were infected with the bacteria in distraction osteogenesis group and the infection rate was 8.82%; three were infected in bone un-union and bone defect group and the infection rate was 5.36%; whilest the common fracture-fixing group got the lowest infection rate of 0.39%. CONCLUSIONS Wire-crossing positions are the most frequently infected sites after external fixation and the drug-resisted bacteria are the most commonly detected pathogens. Thus, increasing the stability of fixators, enhancing the infection supervision of operation environment, draining the wound thoroughly and using antibiotics rationally are the most effective managing measures to prevent external fixator-related infections in orthopedics.