Antibiotic eluting gel (GEDI)

Background

Fracture related infections (FRI) can be a serious outcome for orthopedic trauma patients. FRI leads to longer treatment times, and sometimes permanent disability or loss of limbs. The FRIs are directly translated into increased health care costs. Treatment options for FRI include debridement, irrigation and implant retention (DAIR) in combination with systemic antibiotics, implant exchange or others. In many instances the delivery of the antibiotics can be compromised due to damage in the vascular system, or the antibiotics do not reach a therapeutically effective concentration in the affected area.

Goal

To circumvent the aforementioned problems the goal is to develop a hydrogel, compatible with several relevant antibiotics. The gel will then control the release of the antibiotic, keeping the local concentration high while avoiding side effects due to high systemic concentrations.

Results

A hydrogel has been developed for that can be easily mixed with an antibiotic delivered by extrusion with or without cannula. The local concentration has been monitored over a course of 9 days, showing the increased local concentration. Overall, our data indicate that local antibiotic delivery with the gel developed increases the effectiveness of the antibiotic treatment in comparison to standard approaches. The gel is currently being tested in a large animal model for FRI treatment.

Publication

D'Este, Non-stick Antibiotic Gels, WO2021122278