Seasonal Temperature and Pin Site Care Regimen Affect the Incidence of Pin Site Infection in Pediatric Supracondylar Humeral Fractures. (29th April 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kao, Hsuan-Kai; Chen, Mei-Chuan; Lee, Wei-Chun; Yang, Wen-E; Chang, Chia-Hsieh
• Other Names: Chang Yuhan Academic Editor.
• Is Part Of: BioMed research international. Volume 2015(2015)
• Publication Date: 2015-04-29
• Subjects: Medicine -- Periodicals; Biology -- Periodicals; Biotechnology -- Periodicals; Life sciences -- Periodicals; 610.5
• DOI: 10.1155/2015/838913
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2314-6133

Abstract

Abstract : Pin site infection is a common complication after fracture fixation and bone lengthening, and daily pin site care is recommended. Weather is a strong environmental factor of infection, but few articles studied the issue of weather and pin site infection. We performed a prospective comparative study of 61 children with supracondylar humeral fractures treated by closed reduction and percutaneous pinning. The patients were divided into high-temperature season or low-temperature season by the months they received surgery. The patients within each season were further allocated to 2 groups by the different postoperative pin site care methods of daily care or noncare. The infection rate per patient was significantly higher in the high-temperature season compared to low-temperature season (45% versus 19%, P = 0.045). In the high-temperature season, the infection rate per patient was significantly higher in the daily care group versus the noncare group (70% versus 20%, P = 0.001). In the low-temperature season, the infection rate per patient was not significantly different in the daily care group versus the noncare group (10% versus 27.3%, P = 0.33). We recommend that careful monitoring of infection signs, rather than pin site cleaning, would be appropriate in the treatment of pediatric supracondylar humeral fractures, especially during the summer months.