This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

E. Patchen Dellinger, MD; Ellis S. Caplan, MD; Lance D. Weaver, MD; Margaret J. Wertz, MN, RN; Beth M. Droppert, RN; Nancy Hoyt, MACIC; Robert Brumback, MD; Andrew Burgess, MD; Attila Poka, MD; Stephen K. Benirschke, MD; E. Stan Lennard, MD; Sister Mary Ann Lou, MD

Arch Surg. 1988;123(3):333-339.

Abstract
• The necessary duration of antibiotic administration after open fracture has not been established. In a double-blind prospective trial we randomized 248 patients with open fractures to receive one or five days of cefonicid sodium therapy or five days of cefamandole nafate therapy as part of the initial treatment. Rates of fracture-associated infections in the three groups were ten (13%) of 79, ten (12%) of 85, and 11 (13%) of 84, respectively. The 95% confidence limit for the difference in infection rates between the one-day group and the combined five-day groups was 0% to 8.3%. The actual difference was 0.2%. A brief course of antibiotic administration is not inferior to a prolonged course of antibiotics for prevention of postoperative fracture-site infections.

(Arch Surg 1988;123:333-339)

Author Affiliations
From the Departments of Surgery (Drs Dellinger and Lennard and Mss Wertz and Droppert) and Orthopaedics (Dr Benirschke), University of Washington, Seattle; the Departments of Infectious Disease (Dr Caplan and Ms Hoyt) and Orthopaedics (Drs Brumback, Burgess, and Poka), Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore; and the Departments of Orthopaedics (Dr Weaver) and Surgery (Dr Lou), Charles R. Drew Postgraduate Medical School at UCLA. Dr Lou is now with the Tien Medical Center, Taipei-Hsien, Taiwan.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication Aug 28, 1987.

Read before the Seventh Annual Meeting of the Surgical Infection Society, Philadelphia, May 11, 1987.

Reprint requests to Department of Surgery, ZA-16, 325 Ninth Ave, Seattle, WA 98104 (Dr Dellinger).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Trends in the Management of Open Fractures. A Critical Analysis
Okike and Bhattacharyya
JBJS 2006;88:2739-2748.
FULL TEXT  

Open Fractures in Children. Principles of Evaluation and Management
Stewart et al.
JBJS 2005;87:2784-2798.
FULL TEXT  

Open Fractures: Evaluation and Management
Zalavras and Patzakis
J Am Acad Orthop Surg 2003;11:212-219.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Surgical Infection Society--Trials and Tribulations: The Importance of Clinical Trials
Dellinger
Arch Surg 1998;133:1192-1197.
FULL TEXT  

Osteomyelitis
Lew and Waldvogel
NEJM 1997;336:999-1007.
FULL TEXT  

Risk of Infection After Open Fracture of the Arm or Leg
Dellinger et al.
Arch Surg 1988;123:1320-1327.
ABSTRACT