Is Hypercalcemia a Frequent Complication following Local Use of Calcium Sulfate with Antibiotics for the Treatment of Extremity Posttraumatic Osteomyelitis? A Preliminary Study

This observational study reported on 55 patients with extremity posttraumatic osteomyelitis (OM) who were treated with calcium sulfate (CS) used as a carrier material for antibiotics. The aim was to investigate whether hypercalcemia is a complication in patients who receive local calcium sulfate implantation for the management of OM. The study examined serum calcium levels at pre-operative and post-operative time points and between two different CS volume groups (≤20cc and >20cc). Asymptomatic hypercalcemia prevalence was more frequent post-operatively with 60%, (33/55), 53.8% (28/52) and 25% (8/32) on the 1st, 3rd and 7th post-operative days respectively compared to 16.4% (9/32) pre-operatively. At no time point was hypercalcemia found in any patient. Between the two CS volume groups, no statistical differences were observed regarding serum calcium levels at any time point with no significant link observed between post-operative calcium levels and the volume of CS implanted. The abstract can be read, and the full paper can be obtained here.