Implementation of Vancomycin Powder Application in the Emergency Department for Open Fractures

June 17, 2026 updated by: Kristen De Wilde, Atlantic Health System
To evaluate the feasibility, safety, and potential efficacy of applying vancomycin powder locally to open fractures in the emergency department prior to definitive surgical intervention.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

100

Phase

  • Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • United States
    • New Jersey
      • Morristown, New Jersey, United States, 07930
        • Morristown Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Participants aged 18 years or older presenting to the Emergency Department with Gustilo-Anderson Type I, II, or III open fractures.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Known allergy to vancomycin
  • Ballistic open fractures
  • Pregnancy
  • Currently breastfeeding
  • Age younger than 18 years.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Emergency Department Vancomycin Powder
Patients receive 1 gram topical vancomycin powder applied to the open fracture wound in the Emergency Department in addition to standard open fracture management.
Drug: Vancomycin (VAN) treatment
A single 1-gram dose of sterile vancomycin powder is applied directly to the open fracture wound in the Emergency Department after initial wound assessment and irrigation and prior to definitive operative debridement and fixation.
Active Comparator: Standard Open Fracture Care
Patients receive standard open fracture management without Emergency Department (ED) vancomycin powder.
Other: Standard Open Fracture Care
Standard management of open fractures according to institutional protocols, including intravenous antibiotics, wound care, irrigation, operative debridement, and fracture stabilization as indicated, without topical vancomycin powder application in the Emergency Department.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Deep Surgical Site Infection
Time Frame: Defined as the proportion of participants who develop a deep surgical site infection involving the open fracture site within 90 days of injury or index operative treatment.
Incidence of deep surgical site infection following open fracture treatment, defined according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)/National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) criteria and/or requiring operative irrigation and debridement or deep culture-directed antibiotic treatment.
Defined as the proportion of participants who develop a deep surgical site infection involving the open fracture site within 90 days of injury or index operative treatment.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Atlantic Health System

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

June 10, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 20, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

June 10, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 8, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 17, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

June 22, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 22, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 17, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 180742

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

Data will be collected and stored locally, de-identified, and deleted after study completion

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

Yes

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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