Local antibiotics: panacea for long term skeletal traction

Long periods of skeletal traction are frequently needed in busy tertiary centres due to long waiting lists for surgery. A frequent complication is pin track infection, which leads to revision of pin insertion or switching over to skin traction. A prospective study was conducted on sixty patients with upper tibial pin insertion for various causes. Antibiotic (injection Cephazolin 0.5 g after sensitivity testing--250 mg on each side) was injected on thirty patients at the site of pin insertion and no antibiotic was injected in 30 controls. Only one stage one pin track infection was seen in the study group (3% cases), where as six cases had stage 1 infection, one case had stage 2 infection and two cases had stage 3 infections in the control group (30% cases). This study showed the usefulness of this modification in preventing morbidity in patients who are planned for long-term skeletal traction by temporarily suppressing the local flora.