Orthopaedic Infection Special Issue
Orthopaedic infections, including fracture-related infection (FRI), peri-prosthetic joint infection (PJI), septic arthritis and osteomyelitis, remain amongst the most challenging complications in orthopaedic and musculoskeletal surgery. These infections have been convincingly shown to delay healing, worsen functional outcome and incur significant socio-economic costs.
The key clinical challenges in this field remain i) the limitations of conventional antibiotic-based prophylaxis that fail to prevent infection in all cases; ii) the limitations in therapeutic strategies leading to high treatment-failure rates; iii) the substantial number of bone defects that result from debridement of infected bone that prolong recovery and diminish functional outcomes. Also, from a basic science perspective, much remains to be understood in the basic pathophysiology of infection, host-pathogen interactions and immune responses to the commensal microorganisms most often causing these infections.
This eCM Special Issue will focus on the key challenges and emerging strategies in the fight against orthopaedic infection. We encourage researchers to contribute with original experimental research articles as well as review articles that cover this important topic.
Keywords: Osteomyelitis, Staphylococcus aureus, antibiotic, local delivery, microbiome, bone, fracture-related infection (FRI), peri-prosthetic joint infection (PJI).
Submission deadline: 28th of February 2021.
All papers (invited and open submitted) undergo full peer review. All accepted manuscripts will follow the Article Processing Charge (APC) policy of eCM.
Publication: immediately upon acceptance
Editorial team
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eCM Scientific Editor T. Fintan Moriarty, PhD |
Dr Fintan Moriarty is Principal Investigator and Leader of the Musculoskeletal Infection team at the AO Research Institute Davos in Switzerland. He has extensive expertise in the application of preclinical in vitro and in vivo models to address clinically relevant questions on the problem of fracture-related infection (FRI). Particular interests have been the development of prophylactic and therapeutic strategies against FRI, including those caused by antibiotic resistant pathogens. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and has served as editor of a book on biomaterial-associated infection. He is a scientific editor of the eCM Journal, co-organizer of the eCM conference on orthopaedic infection and guest lecturer at the Department Health Science and Technology (D-HEST) of the ETH Zurich. He has received funding through national and EU programs, in additional to translational contract research, all with the goal of clinical translation of novel strategies targeting musculoskeletal infection.
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eCM Guest Editor Prof. Willem-Jan Metsemakers
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Prof. Willem-Jan Metsemakers is currently a Trauma Surgeon in the department of Trauma Surgery of the University Hospitals Leuven (UZ Leuven), Belgium. He studied medicine at the Catholic University Leuven (KU Leuven) where he graduated in 2007 (MD). His current clinical focus is musculoskeletal infection, compromised fracture healing and limb reconstruction in orthopaedic trauma surgery. Within the UZ Leuven he is head of the care program for musculoskeletal infections and member of the antibiotic therapy policy group. On an international level, Willem-Jan Metsemakers is involved in multiple research projects on the topic of musculoskeletal infection. He has published over 52 peer-reviewed articles. Most of this research is performed in close collaboration with the AO Foundation and the KU Leuven. He received local, national and internal scientific research grants in the field of musculoskeletal infection. Within the AO Foundation, he is a member of the Clinical Priority Program on bone infection (AOTrauma) and of the Anti-Infection Global Expert Committee (AIGEC) which is a cross-specialty group within the AOTC System. He is one of the initiators and chairs of the Fracture-Related Infection (FRI) Consensus Group.
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eCM Guest Editor Prof. Henny C. van der Mei, PhD |
Prof. Henny C. van der Mei obtained her PhD in 1989 on physico-chemical surface properties of oral streptococci at the University of Groningen. She became a full professor in 2001 at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University Medical Center Groningen. From 2011 to 2015 she was the director of the W.J. Kolff Institute for Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science. Her present research interests include the mechanisms of bacterial adhesion, the interplay between bacteria, tissue cells and the immune system and how to fight antibiotic resistance of bacteria. She has published over 500 peer reviewed papers (H-factor 73).
Published manuscripts
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