Evaluating diagnostic tools, outcome measures and antibiotic approach in diabetic foot osteomyelitis: a scoping review and narrative synthesis.

Introduction: Diabetic foot osteomyelitis (DFO) is a significant complication of diabetic foot disease; however, diagnosis remains challenging and treatment success is difficult to ascertain. Literature in this space that has utilized varying diagnostic criteria and ideal outcome measures for success is unclear.

Areas Covered: This scoping review assesses methods of diagnosis of DFO and definitions of treatment outcomes in the literature assessing antibiotic therapy for treatment of DFO.

Impact of a sustained, collaborative antimicrobial stewardship programme in spinal cord injury patients.

Background: In patients with spinal cord injuries (SCIs), infections continue to be a leading cause of morbidity, mortality and hospital admission.

Objectives: This study evaluated the long-term impact of a weekly, multidisciplinary Spinal/Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) meeting for acute-care SCI inpatients, on antimicrobial prescribing over 3 years.

Methods: A retrospective, longitudinal, pre-post comparison of antimicrobial prescribing was conducted at our tertiary hospital in Melbourne.

Retrospective study of outcomes of short versus long duration of antibiotic therapy for residual osteomyelitis in surgically resected diabetic foot infection.

Introduction: Optimal treatment duration for residual osteomyelitis (OM) post-amputation in diabetic foot infection (DFI) remains unclear, with resultant heterogeneity in prescribing noted in clinical practice. We aimed to identify a difference in outcomes of long duration of antibiotics (LD) with short duration (SD) in patients with culture-positive proximal bone specimen post-amputation.

Methods: In this single-centre retrospective cohort study (Melbourne, Australia), we analysed antibiotic duration of DFI patients requiring amputation with culture-positive proximal bone specimen over a 31 month period (January 2019-September 2021).

Faecal calprotectin delivers on convenience, cost reduction and clinical decision-making in inflammatory bowel disease: a real-world cohort study.

Background: Faecal calprotectin (FC) is an accurate biomarker of disease activity in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), yet the cost/resource implications of incorporating FC into 'real-world' practice remain uncertain.

Aim: To evaluate the utility of FC in clinical decision-making and on healthcare costs in IBD.

Methods: Retrospective data, including colonoscopy/other investigations, medication, admission and surgical data, were collected from hospital records and compared between two groups: pre-FC historical cohort (2005-2009) where colonoscopy was used to assess IBD activity versus the cohort where FC was used first instead (2010-2014).