Menadione effect on isolates of bone cultures in patients with chronic osteomyelitis culture-negative

Correct treatment of chronic osteomyelitis depends on proper identification of the bone-infecting microorganism, but it is difficult identify the specific etiology in previously treated patients and in those with implants. Small colony variants auxotrophyc for menadione had been related with false-negative results in culture of patient with chronic osteomyelitis, but menadione supplementation can increase bone culture performance. The purpose was to evaluate the effect of menadione supplementation on isolates in bone cultures, in a cohort of patients with osteomyelitis, Medellín- Colombia. We performed a study of a retrospective cohort with 40 adult patients with culture-negative and chronic osteomyelitis, supplemented with 3 doses of menadione. Effect was defined as the proportion of positive bone cultures after treatment administration. The comparison of the effect with clinical variables was made with Chi-square, Fisher and Mann-Whitney U test in SPSS 29.0. Microbiological isolates from bone culture ranged from 0% (pre- treatment) to 62.5% (post-treatment), mainly S. aureus sensitive to methicillin, coagulase-negative Staphylococcus, E. coli and Enterobacter spp. This effect did not present statistical differences according to the clinical characteristics or comorbidities of the patients. We concluded that in patients with chronic osteomyelitis and negative bone cultures, menadione supplementation produces a high proportion of isolates and identification of the etiological agent, which favors correct treatment and reduces readmissions, complications, and resistance to antibiotics.