A 12-Year-old Boy With a Knee Infection

Abstract

A 12-year-old boy, with no significant past medical history and no known drug allergies, presented to the emergency department with a deep laceration of his left knee after a fall on a ceramic plant pot in May 2013. A 10-cm long, L-shaped laceration heavily contaminated with soil and completely exposing the lateral femoral condyle was noted. He also was found to have a patella tendon avulsion (Fig. 1). The patient was oriented and comfortable with a blood pressure of 115/50 mm Hg, pulse of 68 beats/min and respiratory rate of 18 breaths/min. Blood tests showed the following mildly abnormal values: white cell count of 11.9 × 10 9 /L (normal: 4–11 × 10 9 /L), hemoglobin of 142 g/L (normal: 135–175 g/L), red cell