[Gentamicin-PMMA-beads in treating bone and soft tissue infections (author's transl)]

Temporary implantation of gentamicin-PMMA-beads and -chains provides a most-effective local antibiotic therapy as supplementary and consecutive treatment after surgical procedures executed in bone and soft tissue infections. The broad spectrum antibiotic gentamicin is gradually released from the PMMA beads in high doses, thus ensuring local concentrations of the antibiotic which never can be achieved by systemic application of the same antibiotic. Operative technique and advantages of this new way of local antibiotic therapy are explained. 128 patients were treated for different manifestations of chronic osteomyelitis in 1976. The chronic bone infections subsided completely in 91,4% of the patients, but 11 reinfections were observed within 6 to 24 months after termination of treatment. In 6 of those 11 cases this re-infection was caused by sequestered bone particles which had been overlooked.