Project 460959

Bone cancer in the leg is most commonly treated with extensive reconstructive operations with the goal of saving the leg and avoiding amputation. These complex operations are associated with a high risk of infection after surgery. Infections after surgery can be devastating for patients because they frequently require long-term intravenous antibiotics, multiple operations, and often result in eventual amputation. The identification of the best preventative antibiotic regimen was established as the primary research priority in the field of musculoskeletal cancer surgery by the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society, the leading North American society in the field. With CIHR funding (Spring 2014 Project Grant Funding Competition), we conducted the Prophylactic Antibiotic Regimens In Tumor Surgery (PARITY) trial to address this research priority. Surgeons from 48 hospitals across 12 countries and 6 continents randomly allocated 611 patients to receive either one- or five-days of intravenous antibiotics after surgery between January 2013 and October 2019. Ultimately, the results of this study suggest that prolonging the use of antibiotics beyond one day after surgery does not reduce the rate of infection but does significantly increase the risk of having a serious antibiotic-related complication. More importantly, the PARITY trial dataset is the largest prospectively collected dataset in the field of musculoskeletal cancer surgery. We aim to use our dataset to address other unanswered clinical questions in the field. However, due to the across-the-board 30% budget cuts during the Spring 2014 CIHR funding competition, we had to limit our dissemination initiatives. At present, we are requesting further funding to complete our dissemination activities as originally planned.