Antibiotics in acrylic bone cement. In vitro studies.

The effect of combining gentamicin and cephalothin with Surgical Simplex bone cement was tested in vitro. Experiments were designed to determine (1) quantitative elution rates and period of time the antibiotics were eluted and (2) effective bactericidal qualities. Both antibiotics were eluted from polymerized acrylic cement in large quantities within 24--48 hr after coming in contact with fluid and continued to be released in smaller amounts for 21 days to more than 175 days. This varied with the antibiotic, concentration of antibiotic in the cement, surface area of cement, and volume of elution fluid. Quantitative determinations of numbers of bacteria in broth cultures demonstrated that sufficient quantities of antibiotics were released to be bactericidal to microorganisms within 45 min to 20 hr. This was dependent on the type of antibiotic, type of bacteria, concentration of antibiotic in the cement, and time of contact.