Dr. Karan Goswami Wins EOA Parvizi Musculoskeletal Infection Award

PHILADELPHIA, October 8, 2021 (Newswire.com) - Dr. Karan Goswami of the Rothman Orthopaedic Institute at Thomas Jefferson University has received the prestigious Eastern Orthopaedic Association's Parvizi Musculoskeletal Infection Award for his paper entitled "Fracture-associated Microbiome and Persistent Nonunion: Next-Generation Sequencing Reveals." This award is given to a Resident or Fellow with one of the top papers presented at the EOA's Annual Meeting.

"Infected nonunion is a major problem," says Dr. Javad Parvizi, Orthopaedic Surgeon and Director of Clinical Research at the Rothman Institute. "Patients suffer long periods of disability and loss of function, and even stand to lose a limb. It also imparts an immense economic burden on the society. Dr. Goswami and colleagues should be congratulated for investigating this important issue. Their findings are sobering and lend support to the role of the microbiome contributing to these infections."

Dr. Goswami's paper, a prospective multicenter study, estimated the microbial contribution to fracture nonunion using next-generation DNA sequencing (NGS) techniques including 16S rRNA gene profiling. Results indicated that NGS detection of pathogens was significantly correlated with persistent nonunion (X2=6.1; p=0.048). NGS was positive in 77% more cases of non-union than traditional culture. Differences in microbial composition between patient outcome groups were also assessed. The study found that increased bacterial diversity was associated with compromised patient outcomes (R2=0.17; p<0.001).

"The fracture-associated microbiome detected using NGS appears to be a significant risk factor for persistent nonunion," says Dr. Goswami. "20 microbial species were especially predictive of poorer outcome within our interim analysis."

The research was funded by MicroGen Diagnostics and NGS testing was performed by MicroGen Diagnostics.

About Karan Goswami, MD

Dr. Goswami completed medical training at Oxford University and Imperial College, followed by further surgical training at the Royal College of Surgeons. As part of a Ph.D. thesis, Dr. Goswami focused on molecular diagnostics for musculoskeletal infection, and has published over 85 peer-reviewed academic papers and book chapters. He is currently an Orthopedic surgery resident at the Rothman Institute at Thomas Jefferson University. He has no conflict of interest.

About Javad Parvizi, MD, FRCS

Dr. Parvizi holds the James Edwards chair of orthopedics at Sidney Kimmel Medical School in Philadelphia. He is an active orthopedic surgeon with interest in management of orthopedic infections. He has published over 800 peer-reviewed articles, numerous text books and has been the recipient of grants from the NIH, DOD, OREF, and numerous other funding bodies for his work in orthopedic infections. He serves as scientific advisor to MicroGenDX and holds equity in the company.

About MicroGenDX

Founded in 2008, MicroGenDX has become the industry leader in rapid turnaround and affordability for comprehensive Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) and qPCR testing for clinical diagnostics. MicroGenDX is CLIA-licensed and CAP-accredited, and has been the trusted research partner for the CDC, U.S. Army, NASA and the FDA. MicroGenDX has published over 35 clinical trials and is the most experienced molecular diagnostic laboratory with some 1.5 million samples processed. Over 80,000 medical professionals rely on MicroGenDX clinical diagnostics. 

Source: Eastern Orthopaedic Association