Antibacterial coating systems.

The local application of antibiotics is a well-known procedure that has been in successful clinical use for more than 20 years. The most frequently used carrier substance for the antibiotic or other antibacterial substances is polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA). However, because PMMA is not resorbable, as much as 70% of the antibiotic dose is permanently sequestered in the PMMA cement and therefore not available to combat bacterial colonization. Antibacterial coatings of metal implants represent an attractive solution to simplify the local application of an antibacterial substance in fracture care. Several coating technologies have been investigated, involving different carrier materials as well as different antibacterial substances. A fully resorbable coating containing gentamicin sulphate has yielded promising results in animal studies and intramedullary tibial nails with this coating have already been implanted successfully in a few patients. In the future, the main developmental focus for antibacterial coatings for implants will lie in tailoring the release characteristics and the antibacterial substance to minimize the risk of breeding resistant bacterial strains while maximizing the efficacy of the coating.