Animal models of orthopedic implant-related infection

Abstract

Musculoskeletal infection remains a great challenge in orthopedic and trauma surgery. Despite best medical and surgical practice and significant advances in research and development, bone and implant associated infections are still difficult to diagnose, impossible to prevent in all cases and require invasive and debilitating treatment. The development and safe clinical implementation of novel preventative, therapeutic or diagnostic strategies requires the use of animal models of infection, which provide crucial evidence regarding performance, cytocompatibility, biocompatibility, and safety prior to clinical implementation. Many animal models of musculoskeletal infection have been described in the literature; however, there remains a dearth of fully standardized or universally accepted reference models hindering advancement in the field. The following chapter provides an overview of the animal models available for the study of musculoskeletal infection, the latest advances that are expected to improve them, and some of the most important scientific output achieved using these models.