RESEARCH ARTICLE
Management of Infection After Intramedullary Nailing of Long Bone Fractures: Treatment Protocols and Outcomes
Kostas G Makridis, Theodoros Tosounidis , Peter V Giannoudis*
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2013Volume: 7
Issue: Suppl 2
First Page: 219
Last Page: 226
Publisher ID: TOORTHJ-7-219
DOI: 10.2174/1874325001307010219
Article History:
Received Date: 7/2/2013Revision Received Date: 12/2/2013
Acceptance Date: 21/4/2013
Electronic publication date: 14/6/2013
Collection year: 2013
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/) which permits unrestrictive use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Implant related sepsis is a relatively unusual complication of intra-medullary nail fixation of long bone fractures. Depending on the extent of infection, timing of diagnosis and progress of fracture union, different treatment strategies have been developed. The aim of this review article is to collect and analyze the existing evidence about the incidence and management of infection following IM nailing of long bone fractures and to recommend treatment algorithms that could be valuable in everyday clinical practice. After searching the P u b M e d /Medline databases, 1270 articles were found related to the topic during the last 20 years. The final review included 28 articles that fulfilled the inclusion criteria.
Only a few prospective studies exist to report on the management of infection following IM nailing of long-bone fractures. In general, stage I (early) infections only require antibiotic administration with/without debridement. Stage II (delayed) infections can be successfully treated with debridement, IM reaming, antibiotic nails, and administration of antibiotics. Infected non-unions are best treated with exchange nailing, antibiotic administration and when infection has been eradicated with graft implantation if it is needed. Debridement, exchange nailing and systemic administration of antibiotics is the best indication for stage III (late) infections, while stage III infected non-unions can successfully be treated with nail removal and Ilizarov frame, especially when large bone defects exist.
