<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The proper management of traumatic hand injury is crucial for wound infection prevention. Antibiotics in various forms and conditions are prescribed to avoid this complication, but the effectiveness is unclear. Most forms used are intravenous solutions, topical ointments, and oral tablets. This prospective case-control trial was conducted in a tertiary care hospital. Healthy adult patients with simple, non-bite, surgically treated hand wounds were included. During the surgery, a proper debridement and irrigation with simple saline was consistently performed. Patients were randomly assigned to one of the eight groups. Seven groups received different antibacterial prophylaxis and one received none. At the two-week postoperative follow-up the wound site was assessed and any local infection was documented. Patients were excluded from the trial if they did not comply to treatment recommendations (i.e. commence antibiotics, applied solutions or ointments on the wound). Overall, 240 patients (80.2% male, mean age 38.7 years), 30 in each study group were included. 226 patients returned for the follow-up, and seven patients were excluded from the trial. Wound infection was observed in five patients from different groups. Thus, the rate of wound infection was 2.28%. A Chi-square test revealed no difference in infection incidence between the groups (p > 0.05). In this study, antibiotics did not affect incidence of wound infection after hand trauma. Attention should be paid to proper debridement and irrigation of the wound as these interventions reduce the risk for wound infection and avoid unnecessary usage of antibiotics.</p></abstract>

The proper management of traumatic hand injury is crucial for wound infection prevention. Antibiotics in various forms and conditions are prescribed to avoid this complication, but the effectiveness is unclear. Most forms used are intravenous solutions, topical ointments, and oral tablets. This prospective case-control trial was conducted in a tertiary care hospital. Healthy adult patients with simple, non-bite, surgically treated hand wounds were included. During the surgery, a proper debridement and irrigation with simple saline was consistently performed. Patients were randomly assigned to one of the eight groups. Seven groups received different antibacterial prophylaxis and one received none. At the two-week postoperative follow-up the wound site was assessed and any local infection was documented. Patients were excluded from the trial if they did not comply to treatment recommendations (i.e. commence antibiotics, applied solutions or ointments on the wound). Overall, 240 patients (80.2% male, mean age 38.7 years), 30 in each study group were included. 226 patients returned for the follow-up, and seven patients were excluded from the trial. Wound infection was observed in five patients from different groups. Thus, the rate of wound infection was 2.28%. A Chi-square test revealed no difference in infection incidence between the groups (p > 0.05). In this study, antibiotics did not affect incidence of wound infection after hand trauma. Attention should be paid to proper debridement and irrigation of the wound as these interventions reduce the risk for wound infection and avoid unnecessary usage of antibiotics.

Do We Require to Use Antibacterial Prophylaxis in Hand Trauma? Results of a Randomised Prospective Case-Control Trial

Children’s Clinical University Hospital

Proceedings of the Latvian Academy of Sciences. Section B. Natural, Exact, and Applied Sciences.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The proper management of traumatic hand injury is crucial for wound infection prevention. Antibiotics in various forms and conditions are prescribed to avoid...

Do We Require to Use Antibacterial Prophylaxis in Hand Trauma? Results of a Randomised Prospective Case-Control Trial

Published Online: May 08, 2021

Page range: 121 - 125

Received: Jun 03, 2020

Accepted: Mar 02, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/prolas-2021-0019

Keywords
hand trauma, antibiotics prophylaxis, surgical site infection

© 2021 Dzintars Ozols et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Do We Require to Use Antibacterial Prophylaxis in Hand Trauma? Results of a Randomised Prospective Case-Control Trial

Published Online: May 08, 2021

Page range: 121 - 125

Received: Jun 03, 2020

Accepted: Mar 02, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/prolas-2021-0019

Keywordshand trauma, antibiotics prophylaxis, surgical site infection

© 2021 Dzintars Ozols et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
hand trauma, antibiotics prophylaxis, surgical site infection