ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT00788398FLOWUpdated Feb 11, 2016

Fluid Lavage of Open Wounds

An interventional study of Saline Solution and Soap solution in Open Fracture Wounds, sponsored by Prisma Health-Upstate. Completed at 31 sites in 5 countries. Open to participants aged 14 Years to 85 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2016-02-11.

Sponsored by Prisma Health-Upstate · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
2,540
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
14 Years to 85 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Open fracture wounds are a constant challenge to orthopaedic surgeons, with infections a common complication. There is currently little evidence as to which is the most effective way to wash out these wounds. This study is a multi-center, prospective, randomized study. The infection rates will be compared between irrigation using high pressure versus low pressure versus gravity flow, and also saline versus a soap solution as the irrigation solution. The results from this study will help to determine the best method of washing out open fractures wounds. In this study, all open wounds will be washed out using methods commonly used by orthopaedic surgeons

02

Conditions studied

  • Open Fracture Wounds

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03

In context

Fractures, Open

53 studies on the registry are indexed under Fractures, Open; 14 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 2,540 is above the median of 90 across 40 interventional studies indexed under Fractures, Open.

Browse Fractures, Open studies →

Lead sponsor

Prisma Health-Upstate is the lead sponsor of 76 studies on the registry; 7 are open to participants now.

Of its 12 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 10 (83%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
14 Years to 85 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  1. Men or women who are skeletally mature.
  2. Fracture of any extremity with complete radiographs.
  3. Open fractures (Gustilo-Anderson Types I-IIIB) (Table 2)*.
  4. Fracture requiring operative fixation.
  5. Provision of .

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Open fractures with an associated vascular deficit (Gustilo-Anderson Type IIIC).
  2. Known allergy to detergents or castile soap ingredients.
  3. Previous wound infection or history of osteomyelitis in the injured extremity.
  4. Previous fracture with retained hardware in injured extremity that will interfere with new implant fixation.
  5. Surgical delay to operative wound management greater than 24 hours from hospital admission.
  6. Use of medication within 6 months.
  7. Immunological deficient disease conditions (e.g. ).
  8. Fracture of the hand (metacarpals and phalanges).
  9. Fracture of the toes (phalanges).
  10. Likely problems, in the judgment of the investigators, with maintaining follow-up. We will, for example, exclude patients with no fixed address, those who report a plan to move out of town in the next year, or intellectually challenged patients without adequate family support.
  11. Previous randomization in this study or a competing study.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(3)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

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Immunosuppression

A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.

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HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Factorial assignment
Masking
Double (Participant, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
2,540 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Saline, gravity flow

    Procedure: Saline Solution · Procedure: Gravity Flow Irrigation

  • Active comparator
    Saline, Low Pressure

    Procedure: Saline Solution · Procedure: Low Pressure Irrigation

  • Active comparator
    Saline, High Pressure

    Procedure: Saline Solution · Procedure: High Pressure

  • Active comparator
    Soap, Gravity Flow

    Procedure: Soap solution · Procedure: Gravity Flow Irrigation

  • Active comparator
    Soap, low pressure

    Procedure: Soap solution · Procedure: Low Pressure Irrigation

  • Active comparator
    Soap, high pressure

    Procedure: Soap solution · Procedure: High Pressure

Interventions

  • ProcedureSaline Solution

    Irrigation with Saline

  • ProcedureSoap solution

    Irrigation with Castile Soap Solution (80 ml per 3L bag of saline)

  • ProcedureGravity Flow Irrigation

    Gravity flow irrigation will be standardized across participating centers as 3L bags of normal saline (alone or with soap solution) suspended 6-8 feet above floor level using an I.V. pole. Irrigation tubing (measuring 1/4 - 3/8 inch inner diameter) will be connected to the 3L bag and secured with a stopcock (or compressive device) until ready for use.

  • ProcedureLow Pressure Irrigation

    Irrigation with the Stryker SurgiLav System. At the low pressure setting delivers 5.9 p.s.i. pressure. The high-flow irrigator tip will be held perpendicular to and 5cm above the wound. Irrigation with the Zimmer PulsaVac. For low pressure delivery, the shower tip will be used at the low pressure setting which delivers a pressure of 5.8 p.s.i.

  • ProcedureHigh Pressure

    Irrigation with the Stryker SurgiLav System. For the high pressure delivery, the multi-orifice tip will be used at the high setting which delivers a pressure of 30 p.s.i. Irrigation with the Zimmer PulsaVac System: For the high pressure delivery the shower tip will be used at the high pressure setting which delivers a pressure of 23 p.s.i.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Re-operation within 12 months post initial surgery to treat an infection, manage a wound healing problem, or promote fracture healing.

    Time frame: within 12 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. Patient function and quality of life measured by the Short Form-12 (SF-12) and the EuroQol-5D

    Time frame: 12 months

07

Study locations

31 sites
  • Univeristy of Alabama at Birmingham
    Birmingham, Alabama 35294, United States
  • University of California-Irvine
    Orange, California 92868, United States
  • University of California- San Francisco
    San Francisco, California 94110, United States
  • Wishard Health Services, Indiana University
    Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, United States
  • Lahey Clinic
    Burlington, Massachusetts 01805, United States
  • Orthopaedic Associates of Michigan
    Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503, United States
  • Hennepin County Medical Center
    Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415, United States
  • University of Missouri Health Care
    Columbia, Missouri 65212, United States
  • St. Louis University
    St. Louis, Missouri 63110, United States
  • Duke University
    Durham, North Carolina 27710, United States
  • Miami Valley Hospital/Wright State University
    Dayton, Ohio 45409, United States
  • University of Pittsburg
    Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, United States
  • Greenville Hospital System
    Greenville, South Carolina 29605, United States
  • Brooke Army Medical Center
    Fort Sam Houston, Texas 78234, United States
  • The Alfred
    Prahran, VIC 3181, Australia
  • Royal Columbian Hospital-New Wesminster
    New Westminster, British Columbia V3L 5P5, Canada
  • Vancouver General Hospital
    Vancouver, British Columbia V5Z 1M9, Canada
  • Health Sciences Winnipeg
    Winnipeg, Manitoba R3A 1R9, Canada
  • Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Center
    Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 3A7, Canada
  • Hamilton Health Sciences
    Hamilton, Ontario L8L 2X2, Canada
  • McMaster University
    Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
  • London Health Sciences
    London, Ontario, Canada
  • Ottawa Hospital- Civic
    Ottawa, Ontario K1V 4E9, Canada
  • Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
    Toronto, Ontario M4N 3M5, Canada
  • St. Michael's Hospital
    Toronto, Ontario M5C 1R6, Canada
  • McGill University Health Centre
    Montreal, Quebec H3G-1A4, Canada
  • Hospital du Sacre-Coeur de Montreal
    Montreal, Quebec H4J 1C5, Canada
  • Université de Sherbrooke
    Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
  • Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus
    Quebec, Canada
  • Sancheti Institute
    Prune, India
  • Ulleval University Hospital
    Oslo, Norway
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Tornetta P 3rd, Della Rocca GJ, Morshed S, Jones C, Heels-Ansdell D, Sprague S, Petrisor B, Jeray KJ, Del Fabbro G, Bzovsky S, Bhandari M; FLOW Investigators. Risk Factors Associated With Infection in Open Fractures of the Upper and Lower Extremities. J Am Acad Orthop Surg Glob Res Rev. 2020 Dec 8;4(12):e20.00188. doi: 10.5435/JAAOSGlobal-D-20-00188. PubMed 33986214 ↗
  • Prada C, Marcano-Fernandez FA, Schemitsch EH, Bzovsky S, Jeray K, Petrisor B, Bhandari M, Sprague S; FLOW Investigators. Timing and Management of Surgical Site Infections in Patients With Open Fracture Wounds: A Fluid Lavage of Open Wounds Cohort Secondary Analysis. J Orthop Trauma. 2021 Mar 1;35(3):128-135. doi: 10.1097/BOT.0000000000001912. PubMed 33105456 ↗
  • Busse JW, Heels-Ansdell D, Makosso-Kallyth S, Petrisor B, Jeray K, Tufescu T, Laflamme Y, McKay P, McCabe RE, Le Manach Y, Bhandari M; Fluid Lavage of Open Wounds Investigators. Patient coping and expectations predict recovery after major orthopaedic trauma. Br J Anaesth. 2019 Jan;122(1):51-59. doi: 10.1016/j.bja.2018.06.021. Epub 2018 Aug 6. PubMed 30579406 ↗
  • Sprague S, Tornetta P 3rd, Slobogean GP, O'Hara NN, McKay P, Petrisor B, Jeray KJ, Schemitsch EH, Sanders D, Bhandari M; FLOW Investigators. Are large clinical trials in orthopaedic trauma justified? BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2018 Apr 20;19(1):124. doi: 10.1186/s12891-018-2029-3. PubMed 29678204 ↗
  • Shea P, O'Hara NN, Sprague SA, Bhandari M, Petrisor BA, Jeray KJ, Zhan M, Slobogean GP, Pensy RA; Fluid Lavage in Open Wounds Investigators. Wound Surface Area as a Risk Factor for Flap Complications among Patients with Open Fractures. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2018 Jul;142(1):228-236. doi: 10.1097/PRS.0000000000004418. PubMed 29608532 ↗
  • FLOW Investigators; Bhandari M, Jeray KJ, Petrisor BA, Devereaux PJ, Heels-Ansdell D, Schemitsch EH, Anglen J, Della Rocca GJ, Jones C, Kreder H, Liew S, McKay P, Papp S, Sancheti P, Sprague S, Stone TB, Sun X, Tanner SL, Tornetta P 3rd, Tufescu T, Walter S, Guyatt GH. A Trial of Wound Irrigation in the Initial Management of Open Fracture Wounds. N Engl J Med. 2015 Dec 31;373(27):2629-41. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1508502. Epub 2015 Oct 8. PubMed 26448371 ↗
  • Flow Investigators. Fluid lavage of open wounds (FLOW): design and rationale for a large, multicenter collaborative 2 x 3 factorial trial of irrigating pressures and solutions in patients with open fractures. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2010 May 6;11:85. doi: 10.1186/1471-2474-11-85. PubMed 20459600 ↗
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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Feb 11, 2016, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT00788398
Lead sponsor
Prisma Health-Upstate
Collaborators
McMaster University, United States Department of Defense
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Nov 10, 2008
Start date
Jun 2009
Primary completion
Jan 2015
Completion
Apr 2015
Last update
Feb 11, 2016

Study contacts

Kyle J. Jeray, MD
principal investigator · Greenville Hospital System
Bradley Petrisor, MD
principal investigator · Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation
Mohit Bhandari, MD
principal investigator · McMaster University
Gordan Guyatt, M.D.
principal investigator · McMaster University

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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