The effect of polymethylmethacrylate and antibiotic combinations on bacterial viability. An in vitro and preliminary in vivo study.

Polymethylmethacrylate itself has a slight, long-term bacteriostatic effect on the growth of staphylococci, but while polymerizing the heat of polymerization and possibly the elaboration of monomer can be bactericidal to many pathogenic organisms. Twelve antibiotics incorporated into polymethylmethacrylate cement retained their antibacterial activity for long periods in dry storage, but the antibiotics leached out of polymethylmethacrylate quite rapidly in vitro and in vivo. No antibiotic could be found after thirty-seven days in treated cement pellets placed in a rabbit thigh.