Dog-bite lacerations: a controlled trial of primary wound closure

Dog-bite wounds are often left open because of their reputation for infection if primarily closed. A prospective randomized trial comparing primary closure with leaving the wound open was performed to assess infection and cosmesis. Ninety-six patients with 169 lacerations had thorough surgical debri...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Archives of emergency medicine 1988-09, Vol.5 (3), p.156-161
Main Authors: Maimaris, C, Quinton, D N
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Bites and Stings - therapy
Child
Child, Preschool
Debridement
Dogs
Female
Humans
Injuries of the skin. Diseases of the skin due to physical agents
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Prospective Studies
Random Allocation
Sutures
Therapeutic Irrigation
Traumas. Diseases due to physical agents
Wound Healing
Wound Infection - complications
Wounds, Penetrating - surgery
Wounds, Penetrating - therapy
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Summary:Dog-bite wounds are often left open because of their reputation for infection if primarily closed. A prospective randomized trial comparing primary closure with leaving the wound open was performed to assess infection and cosmesis. Ninety-six patients with 169 lacerations had thorough surgical debridement and irrigation of their wounds. Ninety-two wounds were sutured and 77 left open. No prophylactic antibiotics were given. A total of 13 wounds developed infection: seven sutured and six unsutured wounds (not statistically significant), giving an overall infection rate of 7.7%. Significantly (P less than 0.01), more wound infections occurred in the hand in both groups compared to the rest of the body, indicating that particular attention should be paid to management of such wounds. It was concluded that dog-bite wounds should receive thorough surgical treatment and can be safely sutured at presentation. Special care should be given to hand wounds.
ISSN:0264-4924
1472-0205
1472-0213
DOI:10.1136/emj.5.3.156