Antimicrobial efficacy of gentamicin-loaded acrylic bone cements with fusidic acid or clindamycin added

The increasing gentamicin resistance among bacteria in septic joint arthroplasty has stimulated interest in adding a second antibiotic into gentamicin-loaded bone cement. A first aim of this in vitro study is to investigate whether addition of fusidic acid or clindamycin to gentamicin-loaded bone cement has an additional antimicrobial effect against a collection of 38 clinical isolates, including 16 gentamicin-resistant strains. A modified Kirby-Bauer test, involving measurement of the inhibition zone around antibiotic-loaded bone cement discs on agar plates, was used to investigate whether adding a second antibiotic has an additional antimicrobial effect. Second, a selected number of strains was used to study their survival in an interfacial gap made in the different bone cements to mimic the gap between bone and cement as existing near a prosthesis. Gentamicin loaded bone cement had an antimicrobial activity against 58% of the 38 bacterial strains included in this study, while 68% of the strains were affected by bone cement loaded with a combination of gentamicin and clindamycin. Bone cement loaded with the combination of gentamicin and fusidic acid had antimicrobial activity against 87% of the bacterial strains. In the prosthesis-related gap model, there was a clear trend toward less bacterial survival for gentamicin-loaded bone cement after adding clindamycin or fusidic acid. Addition of clindamycin or fusidic acid into gentamicin-loaded bone cement yields an additional antimicrobial effect. The combination gentamicin and fusidic acid was effective against a higher number of clinical isolates than the combination of gentamicin with clindamycin, including gentamicin-resistant strains. (c) 2005 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.