Vancomycin may aid in preventing deep surgical site infection after fracture

ORLANDO, Fla. — Vancomycin powder used was linked to lower rates of deep surgical site infection following fracture in results of a study presented here at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting.

Rabah Qadir, MD, and colleagues, reviewed 585 high-risk fractures that were surgically treated at a level 1 trauma center between January 2011 and February 2015. Of those fractures, 35 fractures had topical vancomycin powder applied at the time of definitive wound closure. The incidence of infection was then compared between the two cohorts. Deep surgical site infection was used as the primary outcome measure.

The vancomycin cohort was also compared to a cohort of 235 high-risk patients in a recently published study who were treated at the same trauma center between 2007 and 2010.

No deep surgical site infections were found when vancomycin powder was applied to the fractures. This was in contrast to control group and the high-risk patient cohort, who exhibited infection rates of 8.6% and 13%, respectively.

“An infection rate of 0% with vancomycin powder use in this high-risk population is very provocative,” Qadir said when he presented the results. “It does not definitively answer the question [of vancomycin efficacy], but it certainly provides some compelling data to further study this topic.” — by Christian Ingram

Reference:

Qadir R, et al. Paper #129. Presented at: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting; March 1-5, 2016; Orlando, Fla.

Disclosure: Qadir reports no relevant financial disclosures.