[Antibiotic concentration in postoperative wound secretions and in serum of patients after implantation of hip endoprostheses having used neomycin-bacitracin loaded bone cement (author's transl)].

Antibiotic concentrations in postoperative wound secretions and in serum give some indication of the local and general effects of an antibiotic additive to bone cement. Ten patients received hip endoprostheses using a prepacked mixture of the bone cement Sulfix 6 with neomycin + bacitracin (Sulfix 6 A). After operation secretions from Redon drains were collected over the next 48 hours as well as venous blood over 14 days in order to measure neomycin and bacitracin levels. Neomycin was found in sera of some patients up to the eighth postoperative day, whereby concentrations did not exceed 0.75 mcg/ml. Bacitracin was not detected in any serum samples. In secretions from Redon drains neomycin as well as bacitracin reached effective levels during the first 48 hours. The results indicate that the addition of neomycin and bacitracin to the bone cement Sulfix 6 for local antibiotic prophylaxis is justified since effective antibiotic concentrations are thereby obtained in the wound without the danger of general toxicity arising when neomycin and bacitracin are administered by the usual method of topical application.