Bacterial Colonization of Porous Titanium Coatings for Orthopaedic Implant Applications - A Comparison

摘要

Bone ingrowth in and through porous coatings on orthopaedic implants can substantially improve their fixation. However, the introduction of pores inherently increases the surface roughness and also the risk of bacterial adherence, which can lead to infection and complicate implant surgery due to the high risk on recidivism and indirect cause of death. Therefore, improving osseointegration without increasing the infection risk is one of the major challenges in implantology nowadays. Staphylococcal adhesion and biofilm formation on Ti surfaces with varying roughness and porosity has been investigated in vitro. Porous pure titanium coatings, obtained by a recently developed powder metallurgical processing route based on the electrophoretic deposition of TiH_2 followed by a thermal treatment in vacuum, were proven to significantly reduce bacterial colonization of the surface when compared to a commercial state-of-the-art vacuum plasma sprayed coating. Further reduction of the biofilm formation was obtained by additional surface modifications.