Reevaluating the Need for Antibiotic Prophylaxis in Adult Upper Extremity Surgery With Hardware.

Background: Although it is well established that antibiotic prophylaxis is not needed in soft tissue upper extremity cases, there is still no definitive consensus when hardware implantation is involved. We hypothesize that antibiotic prophylaxis is not necessary and there is no difference in postoperative surgical site infection rates regardless of preoperative antibiotic administration.

Methods: A retrospective cohort analysis was performed on upper extremity surgical cases with hardware implantation performed at a single institution amongst 5 hand surgeons between November 2021 and November 2023.

Effects of Postoperative Oral Corticosteroids on Infection Rates in Upper Extremity Surgery.

Background: The recent trend in administering postoperative oral corticosteroids has proven effective in alleviating pain and improving surgical outcomes for hand and upper extremity procedures. However, concerns persist regarding potential infection risks despite a lack of supporting evidence in the current literature. We propose that a 6-day regimen of low-dose postoperative oral corticosteroids is safe and does not increase the likelihood of surgical site infections (SSIs) in adult upper extremity surgeries.