Revista Brasileira de Ortopedia (Dec 2015)

Postoperative infection in patients undergoing inspection of orthopedic damage due to external fixation

  • Noel Oizerovici Foni,
  • Felipe Augusto Ribeiro Batista,
  • Luís Henrique Camargo Rossato,
  • José Octavio Soares Hungria,
  • Marcelo Tomanik Mercadante,
  • Ralph Walter Christian

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rboe.2015.10.011
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 50, no. 6
pp. 625 – 630

Abstract

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ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: To conduct a retrospective analysis on cases undergoing inspection of orthopedic damage, at an orthopedic emergency service in a teaching hospital, with the aim of evaluating patients with postoperative infection after conversion to internal osteosynthesis. METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis covering the period from June 2012 to June 2013, on patients who underwent inspection of orthopedic damage due to external fixation and subsequently were converted to definitive osteosynthesis using a nail or plate. RESULTS: We found an infection rate of 13.3% in our sample and, furthermore, found that there had been technical errors in setting up the fixator in 60.4% of the cases. CONCLUSION: We found an infection rate that we considered high, along with inadequacies in constructing the external fixator. We emphasize that this procedure is not risk-free and that training for physicians who perform this procedure should be mandatory.

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