Bernaus Martí, López Yuly, Soto Sara M, Bermúdez-Castel Adrián, Calero Jose Antonio, Torres Diego, Veloso Margarita, Font-Vizcarra Lluis
Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Osteoarticular Infection Unit, Hospital Universitari Mutua Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain.
Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Bioelectricity. 2025 Mar 18;7(1):71-75. doi: 10.1089/bioe.2024.0027. eCollection 2025 Mar.
With the increased use of metallic devices in medical disciplines, the number of potential complications has also risen. Orthopedic implant-related infections are a serious complication often requiring a combination of surgical and prolonged antibiotic treatment. Biofilms play an important role in implant-related infections, and many different strategies have been studied to remove it. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the effectiveness of electrical fields and pulse lavage to remove biofilm from metallic surfaces used in joint arthroplasty.
We compared five different models and combination treatments in an scenario to remove the biofilm. Five different models were compared with a model without treatment (control): (a) low-pressure pulse lavage, (b) high-pressure pulse lavage, (c) pulsed electrical fields, (d) low-pressure pulse lavage in combination with pulsed electrical fields, and (e) high-pressure pulse lavage in combination with pulsed electrical fields. Electrical fields were applied using 25 pulses at 15 V. Each pulse lasted 0.1 s and was applied every 0.5 s for a total exposure time of 12.5 s. The exposure time for irrigation was set at 25 s.
The most effective model for removing biofilm from cobalt-chrome surfaces was a combination of high-pressure pulse lavage and electrical fields.
Our study results suggest the use of pulsed electrical fields is effective at removing biofilm and that our tested conditions could be translated to a clinical scenario involving infected medical devices.
随着金属器械在医学领域的使用增加，潜在并发症的数量也有所上升。骨科植入物相关感染是一种严重的并发症，通常需要手术和长期抗生素治疗相结合。生物膜在植入物相关感染中起重要作用，人们已经研究了许多不同的策略来去除它。我们研究的目的是评估电场和脉冲冲洗在去除关节置换术中使用的金属表面生物膜方面的有效性。
我们在去除生物膜的场景中比较了五种不同的模型和联合治疗方法。将五种不同的模型与未治疗的模型（对照）进行比较：（a）低压脉冲冲洗，（b）高压脉冲冲洗，（c）脉冲电场，（d）低压脉冲冲洗与脉冲电场联合，（e）高压脉冲冲洗与脉冲电场联合。使用25个15V的脉冲施加电场。每个脉冲持续0.1秒，每0.5秒施加一次，总暴露时间为12.5秒。冲洗的暴露时间设定为25秒。
从钴铬表面去除生物膜最有效的模型是高压脉冲冲洗和电场的联合。
我们的研究结果表明，使用脉冲电场有效去除生物膜，并且我们测试的条件可以转化为涉及感染医疗设备的临床场景。
