title: Effectiveness of commercially-available antibiotic-impregnated implants.
abstract: The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of antibiotic-impregnated implants in the prevention of bone infection. We used a model of contaminated fracture in goats to evaluate four treatment groups: no treatment, hand-made tobramycin-impregnated polymethylmethacrylate beads, commercially-available tobramycin-impregnated calcium sulphate pellets and commercially-available tobramycin-impregnated polymethylmethacrylate beads. Three weeks after intraosseous inoculation with streptomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus tissue cultures showed no evidence of infection in any of the antibiotic-treated groups. All of the cultures were positive in the untreated group. These results show that effective local antibiotic delivery can be obtained with both commercially-available products and with hand-made polymethylmethacrylate beads. The calcium sulphate pellets have the advantage of being bioabsorbable, thereby obviating the need for a second procedure to remove them.
authors.affiliation: US Army Institute of Surgical Research, Houston, Texas 78234, USA. joseph.wenke@us.army.mil
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Wenke
authors.forename: B D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Owens
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Svoboda
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Brooks
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001850:Bone Diseases, Infectious / Q000150:complications / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002133:Calcium Sulfate / Q000008:administration & dosage; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial / Q000379:methods; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004343:Drug Implants / Q000008:administration & dosage; D050723:Fractures, Bone / Q000150:complications; D006041:Goats; D008297:Male; D008863:Microspheres; D019904:Polymethyl Methacrylate; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014031:Tobramycin / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D004343:Drug Implants; D019904:Polymethyl Methacrylate; D014031:Tobramycin; D002133:Calcium Sulfate