Closed Irrigation Treatment for Chronic Osteomyelitis: Report of 42 cases

Clinical observation and analysis have been made on 42 cases of chronic osteomyelitis who had been treated by closed irrigation method from July 1961 to June 1968 at the Orthopedic Deprtment of Seoul National University Hospital. It is well known that this method has several favorable aspects compared to open-packing method; duration of hospitalization and complete healing is materially shortened; loss of serum protein is reduced to a minimum; infrequent dressing appeals to the patients and surgeons; chance of secondary infection is practically eliminated; scar is linear and level. 1. In this series, male outnumbered female in ratio of 33 to 9; and 76.3% of all cases had lesion in femur (18 cases) or tibia (14 cases). 2. StaphyIococcus was the most common etiologic organism and was seen in 76.6% of all bacterial culture. 3. For irrigation. normal saline with Streptomycin (1.0 gm/L) or Chloramphenicol (1.0 gm/L) was used at the rate of 1–2L/day and average duration of irrigation was 14days. 4. The duration of hospitalization and complete wound healing could be shortened. average duration being 2–4 weeks.