Trauma-associated bone infection is one of the most serious infectious diseases after surgery, characterized by high incidence, complex pathogenic microorganisms, therapeutic difficulty and poor prognosis. Therefore, early accurate identification of pathogenic microorganisms and sensitivity of related antibiotics is very important to the success of surgery as well as of local and systemic antibiotic support therapies. As traditional detection methods have such shortcomings as complex items, numerous indicators, slow speed, a low positive rate, and inability to detect rare pathogenic microorganisms, there is an urgent need for better detection methods to identify pathogenic microorganisms of bone infection. In recent years, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and metagenomic next generation sequencing (mNGS) have been used in clinical diagnosis of a variety of infectious diseases because of their advantages in accuracy, speed, efficiency, and detection range of pathogenic microorganisms over traditional cultures. PCR and mNGS can also be used as effective tools to diagnose trauma-associated bone infection. This review explores the advantages, disadvantages, development trends and guiding significance of these two techniques in the diagnosis of trauma-associated bone infection.

Trauma-associated bone infection is one of the most serious infectious diseases after surgery, characterized by high incidence, complex pathogenic microorganisms, therapeutic difficulty and poor prognosis. Therefore, early accurate identification of pathogenic microorganisms and sensitivity of related antibiotics is very important to the success of surgery as well as of local and systemic antibiotic support therapies. As traditional detection methods have such shortcomings as complex items, numerous indicators, slow speed, a low positive rate, and inability to detect rare pathogenic microorganisms, there is an urgent need for better detection methods to identify pathogenic microorganisms of bone infection. In recent years, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and metagenomic next generation sequencing (mNGS) have been used in clinical diagnosis of a variety of infectious diseases because of their advantages in accuracy, speed, efficiency, and detection range of pathogenic microorganisms over traditional cultures. PCR and mNGS can also be used as effective tools to diagnose trauma-associated bone infection. This review explores the advantages, disadvantages, development trends and guiding significance of these two techniques in the diagnosis of trauma-associated bone infection.