Postoperative infections resulting from bacteremia. An experimental study in rabbits.

The possibility that postoperative infections can result from bacteremia in the early postoperative period was investigated in an animal model. Defects were made bilaterally in the proximal femora of rabbits. On one side the defects were filled with acrylic bone cement. The rabbits were infected with a suspension of Staphylococcus aureus either in the wound hematoma or by an intravenous route. The cement implant did not attract infection, as the infections became equally distributed both on the cemented and the uncemented side in the locally as well as in the intravenously inoculated group. The experiment also shows that if bacteria occur in the bloodstream in the early postoperative period, there is a high risk of the wound becoming infected.