EFFECT OF ANTIBIOTICS AUGMENTATION AND STORAGE CONDITION ON IMPACT RESISTANCE OF ORTHOPEDIC BONE CEMENT

Abstract

Antibiotic-impregnated poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) bone cement has been successfully used to treat infected joint arthroplasties and surgeons have advocated the use of antibiotic-treated bone cement to prevent possible infections in joint replacement surgeries. However, there is a concern that this addition may adversely affect the mechanical properties of the bone cement. In most cases, the addition of antibiotics to bone cement has been reported to lower its mechanical strength. The uniaxial, biaxial and three/four point bending tests of antibiotic-impregnated bone cement have been extensively performed and well documented. However, only a few documents have focused on the impact strength of bone cement. The present study reports the impact tests of control and antibiotic loaded bone cements at different temperatures and aging conditions. According to the results, the addition of gentamicin or vancomycin significantly reduced the samples' impact strength. Moreover, the samples aged in saline at 23[Formula: see text]C were more resistant than the samples aged in air at 23[Formula: see text]C. Furthermore, raising the storage temperature from 23[Formula: see text]C to 37[Formula: see text]C significantly lowered the bone cement's impact strength in both control and antibiotic loaded samples.