Prophylactic Intrawound Antibiotics Significantly Reduce the Risk of Deep Infections in Fracture Fixation: Subgroup Meta-analyses of the Type of Fracture, Antibiotics, and Organism

Abstract

Objectives: To analyze the efficacy of subgroups of various intrawound local antibiotics in reducing the rate of fracture-related infections. Data Sources and Study Selection: PubMed, MEDLINE via Ovid, Web of Science, Cochrane database, and Science Direct were searched for articles in English on July 5, 2022, and December 15, 2022. Study Selection: All clinical studies comparing the incidence of fracture-related infection between the administration of prophylactic systemic and topical antibiotics in fracture repair were analyzed. Data Extraction: Cochrane collaboration's assessment tool and the methodological bias and the methodological index for nonrandomized studies were used to detect bias and evaluate the quality of included studies, respectively. Data Synthesis: RevMan 5.3 software (Nordic Cochrane Centre, Denmark) was used to conduct the meta-analyses and generate forest plots. Conclusions: From 1990 to 2021, 13 studies included 5309 patients. Nonstratified meta-analysis showed that intrawound administration of antibiotics significantly decreased the overall incidence of infection in both open and closed fractures, regardless of the severity of open fracture and antibiotics class [OR = 0.58, (P = 0.007)] [OR = 0.33, (P < 0.00001)], respectively. The stratified analysis revealed that prophylactic intrawound antibiotics significantly lowered infection rate in open fracture patients with Gustilo–Anderson type I (OR = 0.13, P = 0.004), type II (OR = 0.29, P = 0.0002), type III (OR = 0.21, P < 0.00001), when either tobramycin PMMA beads (OR = 0.29, P < 0.00001) or vancomycin powder (OR = 0.51, P = 0.03) was applied. This study demonstrates prophylactic administration of intrawound antibiotics significantly decreases the overall incidence of infection in all subgroups of surgically fixated fractures but does not affect the patient's length of hospital stay. Level of Evidence: Therapeutic Level II. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.