Only 13 percent of postoperative infections after isolated cubital tunnel release required surgical debridement, according to a case-control study in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine.
Here are three things to know.
1. The researchers identified all Medicare-insured patients undergoing ulnar nerve decompression at the cubital tunnel from 2010 through 2012. There were 330 identified postoperative infections in 15,188 cases, or 2.17 percent overall.
2. The majority — 87 percent — were managed nonoperatively.
3. The most significant risk factors for infection include:
- Hemodialysis use
- Chronic anemia
- Age over 65 years
- Tobacco use
- Morbid obesity
- Inflammatory arthritis
- Depression
- Hyperlipidemia
- Male sex
- Chronic lung disease
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