About this trial
This is a multi- centre trial of children with bone and joint infections (BJIs) at eight major paediatric hospitals in Australia and New Zealand. The primary objective is to establish if in children with acute, uncomplicated BJIs, entirely oral antibiotic treatment is not inferior to initial intravenous (IV) treatment for 1 to 7 days followed by an oral antibiotic course in achieving full recovery 3 months after presentation. Children will be randomly allocated to the 'entirely oral antibiotic' group or the 'standard treatment' group.
Eligibility criteria
This trial does not accept healthy volunteersQualifiers
Children aged 1 to 18 years with acute, uncomplicated, community-acquired bone and joint infection who fulfil pre-defined clinical criteria.
Disqualifiers
Infection due to bacteria resistant to cefalexin or atypical infection (e.g. mycobacterial, fungal)
Features of sepsis as defined by the presence of organ dysfunction (defined using definitions within the Pediatric Logistic Organ Dysfunction-2 (PELOD-2) score)
Concomitant severe, invasive infection e.g. necrosing fasciitis
Complicated infection (e.g. presence of prosthetic material; large subperiosteal (>3mm) or soft tissue abscess without surgical intervention; infection secondary to or complicated by trauma)
Trial design
Parallel
Treatments tested in this trial
Oral cefalexin only
DrugHigh-dose oral cefalexin
IV cefazolin or IV flucloxacillin followed by oral cefalexin
DrugStandard therapy of IV cefazolin or IV flucloxacillin followed by high dose oral cefalexin
Treatment groups
Trial outcomes
Primary outcomes
Proportion of children assessed as having made a full recovery 3 months
Full recovery is defined by the absence of: (i) Clinical features of osteomyelitis or septic arthritis (ii) No episodes of disease recurrence requiring further antibiotic administration after initial treatment. Assessment made by a qualified paediatrician.
Secondary outcomes
Proportion of children with with recurrent disease at 6 months.
Proportion of children with recurrence of symptoms and signs after initial recovery requiring further antibiotic administration assessed at 3 months by an independent committee.
Proportion of children with with recurrent disease at 12 months.
Proportion of children with recurrence of symptoms and signs after initial recovery requiring further antibiotic administration assessed at 12 months by an independent committee.
Proportion of children with complications of their disease at 3 months.
Complications assessed by an independent committee defined as: (i) residual dysfunction (ii) pain
Proportion of children with complications of their disease at 12 months.
Complications assessed by an independent committee defined as: (i) residual poor function (ii) bone death (osteonecrosis) (iii) pain (iv) growth arrest (v) limb deformity
Sponsors and contacts
Click on the lead sponsor to view all of their trials.