TY - JOUR A1 - Boelch, Sebastian P. A1 - Rueckl, Kilian A1 - Fuchs, Clara A1 - Jordan, Martin A1 - Knauer, Markus A1 - Steinert, Andre A1 - Rudert, Maximilian A1 - Luedemann, Martin T1 - Comparison of elution characteristics and compressive strength of biantibiotic-loaded PMMA bone cement for spacers: Copal\(^®\) spacem with gentamicin and vancomycin versus Palacos\(^®\) R+G with vancomycin JF - BioMed Research International N2 - Purpose. Copal\(^®\) spacem is a new PMMA bone cement for fabricating spacers. This study compares elution of gentamicin, elution of vancomycin, and compressive strength of Copal\(^®\) spacem and of Palacos\(^®\) R+G at different vancomycin loadings in the powder of the cements. We hypothesized that antibiotic elution of Copal\(^®\) spacem is superior at comparable compressive strength. Methods. Compression test specimens were fabricated using Copal\(^®\) spacem manually loaded with 0.5 g gentamicin and additionally 2 g, 4 g, and 6 g of vancomycin per 40 g of cement powder (COP specimens) and using 0.5 g gentamicin premixed Palacos\(^®\) R+G manually loaded with 2 g, 4 g, and 6 g of vancomycin per 40 g of cement powder (PAL specimens). These specimens were used for determination of gentamicin and vancomycin elution (in fetal calf serum, at 22°C) and for determination of compressive strength both prior and following the elution tests. Results. Cumulative gentamicin concentrations (p < 0.005) and gentamicin concentration after 28 days (p ≤ 0.043) were significantly lower for COP specimens compared to PAL specimens. Cumulative vancomycin concentrations were significantly higher (p ≤ 0.043) for COP specimens after the second day. Vancomycin concentrations after 28 days were not significantly higher for the Copal specimens loaded with 2 g and 4 g of vancomycin. Compressive strength was not significantly different between COP specimens and PAL specimens before elution tests. Compressive strength after the elution tests was significantly lower (p = 0.005) for COP specimens loaded with 2 g of vancomycin. Conclusion. We could not demonstrate consistent superior antibiotic elution from Copal\(^®\) spacem compared to Palacos\(^®\) R+G for fabricating gentamicin and vancomycin loaded spacers. The results do not favor Copal\(^®\) spacem over Palacos\(^®\) R+G for the use as a gentamicin and vancomycin biantibiotic-loaded spacer. KW - Copal\(^®\) spacem KW - PMMA bone cement KW - elution KW - compressive strength Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-177435 VL - 2018 IS - 4323518 ER -