1996/07/01 by Stephan Arens, S. Arens, U. Schlegel +6 · 1 citation
Medicine · #Bone fractures and treatments #Orthopedic Infections and Treatments
paper · doi:10.1302/0301-620x.78b4.0780647
openalex publication_date 1996/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Resistance to infection may be influenced by foreign bodies such as devices for fracture fixation. It is known that stainless steel and commercially-pure titanium have different biocompatibilities. We have investigated susceptibility to infection after a local bacterial challenge using standard 2.0 dynamic compression plates of either stainless steel or titanium in rabbit tibiae. After the wounds had been closed, various concentrations of a strain of Staphylococcus aureus were inoculated percutaneously. Under otherwise identical experimental conditions the rate of infection for steel plates (75%) was significantly higher than that for titanium plates (35%) (p < 0.05).