June 1998 AAOS Report
Board approves Advisory Statement on infection, human tissue
banks
The Board of Directors, meeting on May 22, approved
an Advisory Statement on the Use of Prophylactic Antibiotics in
Orthopaedic Medicine and the Emergence of Vancomycin Resistant
Bacteria. The Academy recommends that vancomycin should be reserved
for the treatment of serious infection with beta-lactam resistant
organisms or for treatment of infection in patients with life-threatening
allergy to beta-lactam antimicrobials. The Academy also recommends
hand washing with antibacterial soaps to prevent nonsocomial spread,
and isolation of patients infected with strains of vancomycin
resistant enterococcus, vancomycin resistant strains of S.
epidermidis or S. aureus demonstrating intermediate
resistance to vancomycin. The board also approved an Advisory
Statement on Efficacy of Banked Human Tissues which endorses stringent
screening for the detection of disease in donors of banked human
tissues. The Academy supports the use of banked human tissues
when autograft tissue is not available in sufficient quantity.
An Opinion of Ethics on the Care and Treatment of the Medically
Underserved also was approved. The Advisory Statements can be
found on the Academy's home page at www.aaos.org in the "Library"
section or the fax-on-demand system at (800) 999-2939, document
numbers 1017 and 1016, respectively.