Background
Tibial plateau fractures are traumatic injuries with severities ranging from nondisplaced to complicated fractures. This study describes the epidemiological characteristics of patients with tibial plateau fractures treated in five trauma clinics.
Methods
This retrospective, cross-sectional study included 1165 patients with tibial plateau fractures treated between December 2015 and May 2017. Subjects were selected from the medical records of five institutions based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Age, sex, laterality, fracture type, trauma mechanism, vehicle type, classification, and associated injuries were assessed via univariate and bivariate analyses.
Results
In total, 23.3% of patients with tibial fractures treated during the study period had tibial plateau fractures. Of those affected, 73% were men and 50% were younger than 40 years. Furthermore, 95.7% of fractures were caused by traffic accidents, 82.6% of which involved motorcycles. Fractures were closed in 93.1% of cases, and 78% of subjects had associated injuries. The most common fractures, according to Schatzker classification, were type VI (23%) and V (19.1%) fractures.
Conclusions
Tibial plateau fractures are frequent injuries in our setting and mostly occur in men in their 30 s and 40 s. These fractures are typically caused by motorcycle traffic accidents.
Level of Evidence.
IV.
Surgical site infections are clinically and epidemiologically critical in orthopedic surgery, as they lead to several complications affecting the quality of life of patients. Contamination may occur during the surgery, through instruments directly inserted into the wound acting as reservoirs for microorganisms. This study aimed to review the literature on suction tip colonization during orthopedic surgery, with an aim toward setting guidelines for its management during surgical procedures. Suction tips can be colonized primarily in two ways. The first is through direct contact with a surgical wound or poor handling by surgical staff and the second is through continuous airflow through the tip of the suction. Colonization rate between studies has decreased in the last years reporting in recent papers a 7.3% suction tips colonization rates in clean orthopedic. The most common germs isolated are S. epidermidis, S. aureus and E. cloacae. Suction tip colonization has a direct relationship with the duration of the surgical procedure, with a higher rate of colonization with longer surgeries. Multiple strategies have been proposed to reduce the risk of colonization of the suction tips used during a surgical procedure including systematically changing suction cannula after 1 hour of surgery or strategies to reduce active suction time. It is unclear if suction tip colonization is directly related to surgical site infection rates. Further studies are needed to corelate infection and colonization of the suction canula.
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