Diagnosis and management of chronic infection.

High-energy penetrating extremity injuries are often associated with severe open fractures that have varying degrees of soft-tissue contamination and tenuous soft-tissue coverage. The result is a relatively high prevalence of chronic osteomyelitis compared with that in civilian trauma patients. Diagnosing chronic osteomyelitis requires a careful history and thorough physical and radiographic examinations.

Surgical treatment of osteomyelitis.

Chronic osteomyelitis is refractory to nonsurgical treatment due to a resilient, infective nidus that harbors sessile, matrix-protected pathogens bound to substrate surfaces within the wound. Curative treatment mandates physical (surgical) removal of the biofilm colony, adjunctive use of antibiotics to eliminate residual phenotypes, and efforts to optimize the host response throughout therapy. Patient selection, therapeutic options, and the treatment format are determined by the Cierny/Mader staging system, while reconstruction is governed by the integrity/stability of the affected bone(s) and quality/quantity parameters of the soft-tissue envelope.

Treatment of chronic infection.

Failure of an acute inflammatory response to resolve a wound infection heralds a cascade of events that affects the host and pathogens, culminating in a chronic, refractory condition. The factors contributing to this outcome include immune compromise of the host, antimicrobial resistance, wound-healing deficiencies, and the adherence of pathogens to themselves and wound surfaces via an impenetrable, resistant biofilm. To eradicate chronic infection, the pathogens, biofilm, surfaces available for adherence, and compromised tissue must be removed.