Antibiotic use in low-velocity gunshot-induced fractures remains inconclusive .
This report has been verified
by one or more authors of the
original publication.
Antibiotics in the treatment of low-velocity gunshot-induced fractures: a systematic literature review
Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2013 Dec;471(12):3937-44. doi: 10.1007/s11999-013-2884-z33 studies (2 of which were RCTs) reporting infection rates in patients suffering from a gunshot-induced fracture were included in this review. The purposes of this review were to examine the effect of antibiotics, additional gram-negative coverage, as well as the duration and method of antibiotic administration on infection rates. Results indicated that for fractures treated non-operatively, those treated with antibiotics resulted in a significantly lower infection rate, compared to those without antibiotic treatment. However, when only higher-quality studies were considered, this finding lost its significance. It remains uncertain whether this insignificance was, in fact, due to the difference in the methodological quality of the studies, or a lack of power when only higher-quality studies were assessed. Furthermore, duration of antibiotic administration and additional gram-negative coverage did not have a significant effect on infection rates for fractures treated either operatively or non-operatively.
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