Osteomyelitis: Procalcitonin to Diagnose and Monitor Osteomyelitis
Osteomyelitis: Procalcitonin to Diagnose and Monitor Osteomyelitis
The investigator plans a cohort study of 80 subjects admitted to hospital with a diabetic foot infection in order to compare serial bone biopsies (the current "gold standard") and procalcitonin to diagnose and monitor the effectiveness of therapy for osteomyelitis. The investigator will collect specimens as part of an existing trial to evaluate negative pressure wound therapy in diabetic infected wounds. A high proportion of these patients have osteomyelitis and will receive standard therapy including repeat bone biopsy and parenteral antibiotics. The investigator expects repeated measurement of procalcitonin will be highly correlated with repeated bone biopsy after antibiotic treatment has been completed to determine if therapy has been successful or if additional antibiotic therapy is needed.
There is a world-wide epidemic of diabetes. As part of the epidemic lower extremity amputations are dramatically increasing. Soft tissue and bone infections are one of the most common reasons for amputation. It is often difficult to determine if diabetic foot ulcers have an underlying bone infection. Inaccurate diagnosis of osteomyelitis leads to unnecessary antibiotic treatment, surgery, and amputation. In addition, we do not have good diagnostic tools to determine when osteomyelitis has been treated successfully.
The role of biomarkers specific to bone turnover (resorption and formation) in relation to bone infections is poorly understood. We know that remodeling is an essential function in bone physiology with increased osteoclast production leading to resorption of old bone coupled with increased osteoblast production associated with new bone formation. The balance between these two functions is known to be disrupted in disease states including osteoporosis, but has not been examined specifically in infected bone. Procalcitonin has been suggeasted as a tool to both diagnose and monitor the effectiveness of therapy for various infections, but there is very little work in diabetic foot osteomyelitis.
Aim 1. To evaluate the role of procalcitonin as a screening tool to diagnose diabetic foot osteomyelitis using bone culture and histopathology as the "gold standard" to establish the diagnosis.
Aim 2. To determine the role of procalcitonin as a management tool to determine osteomyelitis treatment success versus treatment failure (indicated by bone biopsy) after completing a standard course of antibiotics for 6 weeks.
Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria: