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Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have developed an antibiotic-releasing polymer that may greatly simplify the treatment of periprosthetic joint infection, and in a recent report published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, they describe how implants made from this material successfully eliminated 2 types of prosthetic infection in animal models.

“Our finding that polyethylene, the most commonly used weight-bearing surface in total joint surgery, can be made to safely and effectively release antibiotics implies that fully weight-bearing implants made with this material could be used to treat infection in a single procedure, reducing both the inconvenience and the risk of complications for patients.”