1 BACKGROUND Infection of pressure ulcers constitutes the most frequent complication in spinal cord–injured patients; evidently, the surgical treatment of infected pressure ulcers is effective only when combined with a selected antibiotic therapy. However, the choice of the appropriate antibiotics is not simply due to the widespread variety of bacterial species involved in such infections. Only...

Introduction Subtotal calcanectomy is a therapeutic option for the treatment of chronic ulcer associated with calcaneal osteomyelitis. Closure of the surgical wound can be difficult due to the lack of local cutaneous coverage. We present the first case of subtotal calcanectomy in which the ankle was positioned in plantar flexion allowing the primary closure of the surgical wound without the nee...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to determine the rate of surgical site infection for open elective umbilical hernia repairs and to identify the factors related to an increased risk of infection and/or recurrence. METHODS A retrospective analysis of 152 open elective umbilical hernia repairs between 2003 and 2007 was performed. RESULTS Overall, 19% of repairs became infected. Both h...

A 72-year-old woman presented with a 1-month history of an incarcerated uterine prolapse along with an infected wound at the anterior uterine wall. She had previously undergone the traditional Thai practice Yue Fai, or "lying by the fire," as performed by postpartum women. However, her uterus was burned by the extremely high temperature involved in the practice; it subsequently became infected ...

BACKGROUND Bacterial biofilms, which are critical mediators of chronic wounds, remain difficult to treat with traditional methods. Bacteriophage therapy against biofilm has not been rigorously studied in vivo. The authors evaluate the efficacy of a species-specific bacteriophage against Staphylococcus aureus biofilm-infected wounds using a validated, quantitative, rabbit ear model. METHODS Si...

Diabetic foot disease is a major health problem, which affects up to 15% of the more than 200 million patients with diabetes worldwide and is associated with an increased risk of amputation. VacuumAssisted Closure (V.A.C.®) Therapy has been shown to be effective in the treatment of diabetic foot wounds. In two parallel randomized controlled trials we have evaluated the effectiveness of VAC Ther...

BACKGROUND Postoperative wound complications are common following surgical procedures. Negative-pressure wound therapy (NPWT) is well recognized for the management of open wounds and has been applied recently to closed surgical incisions. The evidence base to support this intervention is limited. The aim of this study was to assess whether NPWT reduces postoperative wound complications when app...

STUDY DESIGN Retrospective study. PURPOSE To evaluate the effect of intraoperative wound application of vancomycin on preventing surgical wound contamination during instrumented lumbar spinal surgery. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE Postoperative infection is the one of the most devastating complications of lumbar surgery. There are a few reports showing the benefits of intraoperative wound applicat...

INTRODUCTION Total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA) are highly successful treatment modalities for advanced osteoarthritis. However, prolonged wound leakage after arthroplasty is linked to prosthetic joint infection (PJI), which is a potentially devastating complication. On the one hand, wound leakage is reported as a risk factor for PJI with a leaking wound acting as a ...