Surgical Applications of Materials Engineered with Antimicrobial Properties

The infection of surgically placed implants is a problem that is both large in magnitude and that broadly affects nearly all surgical specialties. Implant-associated infections deleteriously affect patient quality-of-life and can lead to greater morbidity, mortality, and cost to the health care system. The impact of this problem has prompted extensive pre-clinical and clinical investigation into decreasing implant infection rates. More recently, antimicrobial approaches that modify or treat the implant directly have been of great interest. These approaches include antibacterial implant coatings (antifouling materials, antibiotics, metal ions, and antimicrobial peptides), antibacterial nanostructured implant surfaces, and antibiotic-releasing implants. This review provides a compendium of these approaches and the clinical applications and outcomes. In general, implant-specific modalities for reducing infections have been effective; however, most applications remain in the preclinical or early clinical stages.

Automated summary

Infections of surgically placed implants have a significant impact across surgical specialties, causing negative effects on patient quality of life, increased morbidity and mortality, and higher healthcare costs. Extensive research has been conducted to reduce implant infection rates, with recent interest in antimicrobial approaches. These approaches include antibacterial implant coatings, nanostructured implant surfaces, and antibiotic-releasing implants. While implant-specific modalities have proven effective, most applications are still in the preclinical or early clinical stages.