Treatment of Bone and Joint Infection. By Antibiotic-Polymethylmethacrylate beads

Regardless of advances in antibiotics and surgical treatment, bone and joint infections remain refractory diseases. We report on 5 patients treated with antibiotic impregnated PMMC beads. Subjects included 3 men and 2 women with a mean age of 49.4 years (range: 4-74 years) with an average follow-up of 4 years 1 month (range: 1 year 3 months to 7 years 4 months). We treated 3 cases of osteomyelitis and 2 cases of postoperative infections by mixing antibiotics at 3 times the maximum dose with PMMC beads, and inserted them for 3 to 11 weeks (mean 5.8 weeks). We measured the serum concentration of antibiotics after inserting the antibiotic-PMMC beads, and investigated the amount of antibiotic leaching into the surrounding tissue. All cases improved on clinical examination, and made satisfactory progress. We confirmed that the treatment of bone and joint infection by antibiotic-PMMC beads was safe ad effective.