Abstract
Aims: The effectiveness of the local treatment of experimental osteomyelitis by MRSA with a mixture of calcium phosphate bone cement and 3% teicoplanin into the femur of rabbits. Methods: Thirty-six male rabbits with chronic (3 weeks) MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staph. aureus) osteomyelitis of the right femur (Model of Norden CW) were treated with a new local Teico-planin delivery system prepared by a mixture of calcium phosphate cement plus 3% teicoplanin. Osteomyelitis was introduced by inoculating 107 cfu/ml of the MRSA strain in a 2mm hole of the bone medula, placement of a needle serving as a foreign body and subsequent closure with a sterile bone wax. The follow-up of the infection was performed by clinical, microbiological, x-rays and histological þndings. On the third week all animals were reoperated and the needle was removed followed by implantation of the above mixture. One control and þve treated animals were sacriþced each week thereafter until the sixth week. Results: Cultures of the treated animals were positive during the þrst week but turned negative after the second week, while throughout the same period cultures from the controls remain positive. Clinical and histologic studies were in accordance. Conclusions: The above mixture could be approved as a supplementary method in the treatment of bone infections. It can be used by replacing the gentamycin polymethyl-methacrylate beads whose use demands reoperation to be removed. Finally it offers the possibility to contribute to the þlling of the bone gaps as it can be replaced by host bone.
Theses abstracts were prepared by Professor Dr. Frantz Langlais. Correspondence should be addressed to him at EFORT Central Office, Freihofstrasse 22, CH-8700 Küsnacht, Switzerland.
