Application
Implants improves the quality of life
Modern medicine has developed various implants to replace missing anatomical structure or biological function: joint prostheses, internal fixation devices, vascular prostheses, cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators, dental implants, neurosurgical shunts and breast implants.
New devices are improved and optimized with regard to biocompatibility and functionality.
Biofilm infections– a challenge of modern medicine
With growing use of implants, modern medicine is facing an increasing risk of infections. Microorganisms on implant surface form biofilms, what makes them difficult to detect by conventional methods such as periprosthetic tissue cultures. For successful treatment of these infections accurate microbiological diagnosis is crucial. Such biofilms consist of an extracellular matrix of polymerized polysaccharide, in which bacteria are embedded.
The microorganisms in biofilm are transformed in low metabolic, stationary growth state. Over weeks to months, depending on the type of microorganism, implant material and host, a complex three-dimensional structure develops, which consists of nutrition channels and rudimentary communication system resembling multicellular organism.
Free-living (planktonic) bacteria are killed by antibiotics and the host defense system, while adherent (biofilm) bacteria can survive and persist in the extracellular matrix of the biofilm.
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