TREATMENT OF CHRONIC OSTEOMYELITIS WITH PENICILLIN
A PRELIMINARY report of the treatment of chronic osteomyelitis, published in 1944, by members of the Evans Memorial and Massachusetts Memorial Hospital (Keefer and others; Anderson, Howard and Rammelkamp) demonstrated that penicillin was an effective antibiotic agent in the treatment of this disease but that when it was employed in combination with surgical intervention the results were much more satisfactory and permanent.The following report represents a study of the end results obtained in from one to six years, ending March 1948, and does not include any new patients treated in the last twelve months.The penicillin was used (1) without surgical intervention in 32 patients and (2) with surgical intervention and primary closure of operative wounds in 55 patients.
1. Treatment Without Surgical Intervention in 32 Patients.
—Before discussing the treatment of chronic osteomyelitis by means of surgical intervention, it seems appropriate first