Abstract
A drug delivery system using allografts were used to prevent recurrence of the infection after total hip arthroplasty. From 1990 to 1999, allograf is were used to reconstruct bone defects in 6 patients, 5 females, 1 male, average age 62 years old, Staphylococcus epidermidis (2 patients), Proteus mirabillis (1 patient), unknown (2 patients) during the two-stage revision of a total hip arthroplasty that had failed due to infection. Reconstruction was performed by removing the old prosthesis and treating the infection by thorough debridement, antibiotic-impregnated cement beads and continuous irrigation of involved region. The allogenic bone chips were centrifuged at 3000rpm for 30 minutes with antibiotic active against bacteria that commonly cause infection of hip prosthesis.
At an average of 4.5 years after the reimplantation, no patients had recurrence of the infection. The average Japanese Orthopaedic Association hip score was 85 points. Allogenic bone was uniformed with autogenic bone.
The findings in these 6 cases appear to support the statement that antibiotic-impregnated allogenic bone provides slow release of the antibiotic and can be used for bone reconstruction, suggesting that it could be effective for reconstruction when infection occurs after THA, in certain cases.
