Osteomyelitis Essay -- Health, Diseases

OsteomyelitisOsteomyelitis is a common bring up infection caused by bacterium or in some cases, fungus 1. Osteomyelitis chiefly occurs by infection of bacterium in several different ways, including via the bloodstream, from neighboring areas of infection, or due to non-sterile articulation replacements and internal fixations such as fractures 2. In 90% of cases, an S. aereus bacterium is the microbic culprit responsible for osteomyelitis 3. In the cases of open would fractures, osteomyelitis can interfere with radiation diagram bone healing and regeneration 4. Symptoms of osteomyelitis include bone pain, fever, malaise, swelling, redness, chills, excessive sweating, and vocalise pains 5. It is reported that in 20% of the cases, the infection is hematogenous, or spreading by the blood 6. The incidence of spinal osteomyelitis was reported to be 1 in 450,000 in 2001 7. The incidence of vertebral osteomyelitis is reported to be 24 cases per 1,000,000 and the incidence in ch ildren is approximately 1 in 5,000 8. Approximately 10-15% of large number with vertebral osteomyelitis develop spinal-cord compression and approximately 30% of patients with long bone osteomyelitis develop deep vein thrombosis (DVT) 9. Mortality rates are generally low unless sepsis occurs 10. The overall incidence of osteomyelitis was found to be higher in developing countries compared to developed nations 11. Current Clinical Standard of CareThe authorized gold trite treatment for osteomyelitis is gentamycin or vancomycin impregnated poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) beads 12. These beads are surgically implanted at the site of bacterial infection, and the antibiotic will diffuse from these beads 12. Both vancomycin and gentamycin subdue bacterial g... ..., the in vivo studies show that the effectiveness of the delivery system in terms of bacterial growth inhibition is comparable to the clinical standard of care, the PMMA beads. Further studies would include determining t he compressive strengths of the PUR scaffolds to decide where they could be placed in a load-bearing setting, systemic toxicity studies to ensure that neither the vancomycin nor PUR is present in toxically high concentrations in the serum after implantation, and a prolonged study to show that the PUR scaffold is in fact biodegradable, thereby by-passing the second surgical step which is required for the PMMA beads. Li et al 21 in any case did not do any studies comparing the PUR-LTI and PUR-HDIt scaffolds under the same experimental conditions. These studies would also be critical to determine which scaffold formulation should be pursued long-term.