Hand and Wrist Trauma:
Antimicrobial Sutures and Infection
Study Team
E-Mail: hawaii@ndorms.ox.ac.uk
The HAWAII Feasibility Study: A multi-centre randomised feasibility study to determine the key indicators of feasibility for a definitive trial of antimicrobial sutures versus standard sutures in hand and wrist trauma surgery in adults aged 18 years old and over.
Hand and wrist injuries, also known as hand and wrist 'trauma', account for 1 in 5 emergency hospital visits. Every year, over 5 million people in the UK are affected, from young working people to the elderly. The hand and wrist are important in daily life and for earning a living. Many injuries need surgery and there is a risk of infection afterwards. The risk is unknown, but it might be as high as 1 in 4 people. Also, little is known about the knock-on effects of infection, which might be severe, including amputation. At the end of surgery for these injuries, the skin is closed using stitches. Specially coated stitches, known as 'antimicrobial stitches', might reduce infection in the wound by killing nearby bacteria. Preventing infection after surgery could improve recovery, regaining hand and wrist function sooner, and could reduce NHS costs. We want to test the usefulness of these antimicrobial stitches with a clinical trial in the NHS. This small-scale study will look at antimicrobial stitches and infection. In this study, consenting participants with hand and wrist injuries from three hospitals in England will be allocated, by chance, into two groups. One group will get antimicrobial stitches during their surgery and one group will get normal stitches. There will be no other differences between the two groups. The purpose of this small-scale study is to test out the information we give to people and to see if people would be happy to take part. The practicalities of measuring infection after surgery will also be tested. The results will allow us to determine if we can conduct a larger study to see if the antimicrobial stitches do reduce infection in people having surgery for hand and wrist injuries.
Your Data
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