title: Seasonal Temperature and Pin Site Care Regimen Affect the Incidence of Pin Site Infection in Pediatric Supracondylar Humeral Fractures.
abstract: Pin site infection is a common complication after fracture fixation and bone lengthening, and daily pin site care is recommended. Weather is a strong environmental factor of infection, but few articles studied the issue of weather and pin site infection. We performed a prospective comparative study of 61 children with supracondylar humeral fractures treated by closed reduction and percutaneous pinning. The patients were divided into high-temperature season or low-temperature season by the months they received surgery. The patients within each season were further allocated to 2 groups by the different postoperative pin site care methods of daily care or noncare. The infection rate per patient was significantly higher in the high-temperature season compared to low-temperature season (45% versus 19%, P = 0.045). In the high-temperature season, the infection rate per patient was significantly higher in the daily care group versus the noncare group (70% versus 20%, P = 0.001). In the low-temperature season, the infection rate per patient was not significantly different in the daily care group versus the noncare group (10% versus 27.3%, P = 0.33). We recommend that careful monitoring of infection signs, rather than pin site cleaning, would be appropriate in the treatment of pediatric supracondylar humeral fractures, especially during the summer months.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan County 33305, Taiwan ; College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan County 33302, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsuan-Kai
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1125-0932
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Kao
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan County 33305, Taiwan ; College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan County 33302, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Mei-Chuan
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan County 33305, Taiwan ; College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan County 33302, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Wei-Chun
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan County 33305, Taiwan ; College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan County 33302, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Wen-E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan County 33305, Taiwan ; College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan County 33302, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chia-Hsieh
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D001858:Bone Nails / Q000382:microbiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005592:Fracture Fixation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D006810:Humeral Fractures / Q000150:complications / Q000382:microbiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007239:Infections / Q000209:etiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D011182:Postoperative Care; D012621:Seasons; D013696:Temperature; D016896:Treatment Outcome