A comparison between three irrigation methods in the debridement of contaminated bovine cancellous bone and the effect of duration of irrigation on the efficiency of debridement

Abstract

Irrigation and debridement constitute an important part of treatment of open fractures. We investigated the efficiency of different irrigation methods and durations in cleansing contaminated bovine femur cancellous bone samples and the extent of tissue damage associated with irrigation. A total of 72 samples of 4x4x1 cm size were obtained from fresh frozen bovine distal femoral cancellous bone. The top surface of the samples were sawed to a 2-mm depth to create four squares equal in size. All the samples were contaminated with construction sand using the same method and were then randomized to three irrigation groups (bulb syringe irrigation, high-pressure pulsatile lavage, and low-pressure pulsatile lavage), each consisting of 24 samples. The duration of irrigation was set as 3, 6, or 9 minutes for every eight samples of each group. After the irrigation procedure, the images were transferred to a computer screen with a video-microscope camera and the number of sand particles on the samples were counted and irrigation-related macroscopic bone damage was assessed. The lowest number of sand particles was found on the samples irrigated by high-pressure pulsatile lavage (p<0.001). The duration of irrigation did not affect the efficiency of cleansing in all the groups (p>0.05). The least irrigation-related bone damage was observed in samples irrigated by low-pressure pulsatile lavage for 3 minutes (p<0.01). The amount of bone damage was similar in all groups after irrigations beyond 3 minutes (p>0.05). Our findings showed that the most efficient method of cleansing contaminated bone samples was high-pressure pulsatile lavage and that prolonged irrigations did not enhance the efficiency of the irrigation method; however, high-pressure irrigation of 3 minute duration resulted in the greatest bone damage.