Smoking Cessation in Nonunion, Malunion, Osseous Infection

The Study Investigators have a Trauma subspecialty within Orthopaedic Surgery. We take care of numerous patients with ununited or malunited fractures i.e., nonunion/malunion patients, as well as patients with chronic bone infections, and patients with infected nonunions. The literature is replete with articles documenting the negative effects of nicotine on fracture healing and chronic bone infection resolution.(5) Many of our chronic infection and nonunion/malunion patients use nicotine in some form. Most of these patients need additional elective surgery to attain fracture union and/or infection resolution. Thus, we are faced with the dilemma of adding an additional procedure to a patient with proven risk factors for nonunion and continued infection. Much time is spent in clinic counseling patients about smoking cessation, requisite for a successful surgical outcome. Since nicotine is extremely addictive, our efforts at helping our trauma patients relinquish tobacco are not always successful. Many of our patients need pharmacologic help with the goal of cessation, and we have been providing Chantix prescriptions to them. In addition to providing Chantix, we currently present to our patients, as standard of care, a requirement that smoking cessation is necessary prior to performing additional surgical procedures. Chantix (generic name, varenicline)is a relatively new drug designed for helping with tobacco cessation. It has shown great promise for success since it both decreases cravings for nicotine (the highly addictive active ingredient in tobacco) and diminishes withdrawal symptoms of nicotine. This novel, dual approach works by binding to nicotinic receptors in the brain as a partial agonist, decreasing the pleasurable effects of cigarettes and other tobacco products. Once bound to these receptors, Chantix blocks actual nicotine. While blocking nicotine receptors, it also acts like a weak substitute for nicotine, decreasing symptoms of withdrawal. (2) Our study will include 60 tobacco-using patients of all ages above 18 with osseous nonunion, malunion, established bone infection, or combined diagnoses.