Medical doctor and PhD student Mikkel Tøttrup has just won the lecture competition at the annual meeting of the Danish Orthopaedic Society. His research study was selected as the best out of a total of 195 studies.

2014.11.10 | Mette Vestergaard Rasmussen

Mikkel Tøttrup has just won the lecture competition at the annual meeting of the Danish Orthopaedic Society.

The annual award is made for a combined assessment of the scientific content of the research study together with a presentation of the study. The participants at the annual meeting vote on the final winner.

"I am very proud and grateful to receive the award, not least because my talented colleagues are the ones who have voted for the research project," says Mikkel Tøttrup, PhD student at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Regional Hospital Horsens and at the Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital.

Together with a number of other researchers, he has analysed the effect of an antibacterial agent in bone tissue when it is administered over a longer period of time, compared to when the agent is only given over a shorter period but in the same dose.

The study is expected to have great significance for patients who face undergoing a orthopaedic surgical intervention in the future, and it will form part of the PhD dissertation that Mikkel Tøttrup is working to complete in the spring of 2015.

"I would like to acknowledge the fantastic support I have received from the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and the hospital management in Horsens in conducting our research studies. At a regional hospital the staff treat many patients, but there is still a great deal of support for also carrying out in-depth research projects and trying out new methods and techniques," says Mikkel Tøttrup.

New knowledge about bone infections

The coming PhD dissertation will provide new and crucial knowledge about how the antibacterial agent can be most effectively used to prevent and treat bone and prosthetic infections. The research group has e.g. developed a microdialysis technique so that the concentration of antibiotics can now be measured in the bone tissue.

"We can now place a small catheter in the bone during the operation and subsequently measure the concentration of antibiotics. This is a much more gentle technique for the patients," explains Mikkel Tøttrup.

The Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Regional Hospital Horsens had six research studies in the final of the lecture competition, which included a first prize of DKK 5,000.

The department currently has five PhD students. Two of them are about to complete their projects, while two others have just begun their research studies.

Further information

Mikkel Tøttrup
MD and PhD student
Tel.: +45 6170 427
mikktoet@rm.dk