Pressure Ulcer-associated Osteomyelitis: Evaluation of a Two-stage Surgical Strategy With Prolonged Antimicrobial Therapy

Pressure ulcer represents a frequent clinical condition in patient with spinal cord injury or after prolonged Intensive Care Unit (ICU) stay. Osteomyelitis constitutes a severe complication with a poorly known management, and is associated with a high rate of relapse, leading to a high-burden in hospital bed-days, financial cost, surgical intervention, antibiotic use, morbidity and mortality, and nursing care. In our reference center for bone and joint infection management, the medical and surgical strategies are systematically discussed during pluridisciplinary meetings. Most patients benefit from a two-stage surgical strategy (debridement with initiation of vacuum-assisted closure therapy until reconstruction using muscular flap) with prolonged antimicrobial therapy. In this context, our study aims to evaluate this complex approach and to determine risk factors of treatment failure in order to improve patient management, focusing on optimization of empirical antimicrobial therapy after each surgical stage, delay between the two surgical stage, and duration of antimicrobial therapy.