staph infection

[robram]

cortisone injection to shoulder for rotator cuff injury, followed by staph infection,. can this happen

[injuryupdate]

cortisone injection to shoulder for rotator cuff injury, followed by staph infection,. can this happen

Infection is a rare complication of cortisone injections, and can occur even without cortisone use. However, a staph infection at a location of an injection occurring within days afterwards would be considered a complication of the injection. The risk is probably of the order of 1 in a few thousand in a normal person (diabetics or people with other chronic diseases would be higher). The best treatment for the staph infection would be heavy antibiotics. These also can lead to rare side effects, but most treatments have potentially bad side effects.

[robram]

are your chances of getting a staph infection from a injection to the shoulder if the area wasn"t clean properly or doesn"t change the risk much.should the doctor wear gloves or any other safe guards that can be taken to prevent a staph infection from a cortisone injection or is the risk always there no matter what .

[injuryupdate]

are your chances of getting a staph infection from a injection to the shoulder if the area wasn"t clean properly or doesn"t change the risk much.should the doctor wear gloves or any other safe guards that can be taken to prevent a staph infection from a cortisone injection or is the risk always there no matter what .

I'm not aware of too many studies regarding the risk of infection with variations in injection technique. Certainly there is always going to be a small risk even with a perfect technique. Traditionally doctors have swabbed the area with an alcohol prep but I have read one paper that suggests that this doesn't make too much of a difference. Gloves are recommended but probably more to protect the doctor from exposure to the patient's blood than the other way around. With or without gloves the doctor should never actually touch the needle itself, so the source of the staph infection is presumed to be the patient's own skin when it does occur.

Procedures tend to be much more rigorous for surgery than for injections because the exposure to infection is much higher, as the incision is much greater than a fine needle (even for arthroscopes). In surgery the surgeon and assistants all wear sterile gloves and masks and the patient is scrubbed with antiseptic for at least 5 minutes prior to the procedure. If this procedure was followed for all injections then the small risk of infection (which is probably 1 in 1000-1 in 3000 I would guess) would perhaps fall further, but the cost of the injections might need to double or triple to pay for the extra cost of setting up a sterile field. I'm not aware of any doctors who do injections in this way.

[robram]

i like to thank for you imput on this subject in a timely matter. i have taken a great interest in this subject since a close friend of mine came down with staph approx 4 days after getting a injection in to the shoulder. i have become very weary of any injection now or in the future and what to expect if i do. thanks again i may ask more in the future.

[robram]

i have ask and there was no alcohol swipe to shoulder before cortisone injection accept for a spray which is unknown if it was a anti-septic spray or what and he didn"t wear gloves or wash his hands in her present and used one hand to sweeze the shoulder so as to inject the needle in between the fingers didn"t cleaned the area after but applied a bandage. i see where a staph would have enter the skin and the chance of staph into the joint and blood stream much more likely. ibelieve he should have wipe the area throughly and wash his hands in the sink in the imagination room and apply gloves before touching the shoulder and injection the needle and wipe again with alcohol and not doing so is just carelessness and the risk of infection increased no matter what the cost. the patients should always feel he is following pre-op safe guidelines.

[linda8055]

staph infections can spread through the skin. If the needle was contaminated and if staph bacteria was present it could have entered into your system. I am not a doctor though so I don't know, just a thought.

[suspow1]

a friend had a bad staph inf. after cortison shot and almost lost his arm or life at first we throughout it was due to brown recluse but wasn't sure where he hard got bitten but now we are not sure because after he came home his dr called to ask about it it because he had another pt who had same reaction after cortison shot and was worried that the cortisone could have been possible contaminated