Table 1.
Patient characteristics for patients with or without evidence of clinical infection (P = NS for all comparisons between groups)
| Evidence of clinical infection N = 13 |
No evidence of clinical infection N = 22 |
Total N = 35 |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | (mean ± SD) | 53 ± 11 | 47 ± 5 | 50 ± 15 |
| Gender | Female | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Male | 10 | 19 | 29 | |
| Infection proven by | Intraoperative microbial bone culture | 12 | 13 | 25 |
| Follow-up > 1 year | 1 | 9 | 10 | |
| CRP (mg/dL) | (mean ± SD) | 0.4 ± 0.2 | 0.5 ± 0.4 | 0.5 ± 0.3 |
| Leukocytes (/nl) | (mean ± SD) | 8.0 ± 2.3 | 6.8 ± 1.6 | 7.2 ± 1.9 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | (mean ± SD) | 27.2 ± 4.0 | 27.9 ± 5.1 | 27.6 ± 4.6 |
| Location of non-union | Femur | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| Tibia | 7 | 10 | 17 | |
| Fibula | 0 | 4 | 4 | |
| Tibia and fibula | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Foot | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Humerus | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Patella | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Risk factors | None | 2 (15 %) | 3 (14 %) | 5 (14 %) |
| Single | 7 (54 %) | 8 (36 %) | 15 (43 %) | |
| Multiple | 4 (31 %) | 11 (50 %) | 15 (43 %) | |
| Adiposity | 4 | 7 | 11 | |
| History of infection | 1 | 8 | 9 | |
| Nicotine | 5 | 6 | 11 | |
| Alcohol | 4 | 3 | 7 | |
| Vascular disease | 2 | 3 | 5 | |
| Gout | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| Neurological symptoms | 0 | 3 | 3 | |
| Diabetes | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| Renal insufficiency | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| COPD | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Metallic implants | Yes | 6 | 6 | 12 |
| No | 7 | 16 | 23 | |
| Radiological classification | Atrophic | 5 | 6 | 11 |
| Oligotrophic | 8 | 10 | 18 | |
| Hypertrophic pseudarthrosis | 0 | 6 | 6 | |
| Persistence of non-union (months) | (mean ± SD) | 11.2 ± 6.1 | 16.9 ± 18.8 | 14.8 ± 15.4 |
| PET/CT technique | CT with contrast | 7 | 13 | 20 |
| CT without contrast | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| PET only | 5 | 6 | 11 |
NS non-significant, CRP C-reactive protein, BMI body mass index, COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease