Complete Healing of Severe Experimental Osseous Infections Using a Calcium-Deficient Apatite as a Drug-Delivery System

Abstract

Osteomyelitis represents the majority of severe bone infections. The localization of osteomyelitis originating in the bloodstream is most often the metaphysis of long bones [femur (36%), tibia (33%), and humerus (10%)] in children and vertebral bodies in adults (Lazzarini et al., 2004; Calhoun & Manring, 2005) (Figure 1). Fig. 1. Magnetic resonance tomography showing an osteolysis of the distal epiphysis of the left femur in an osteomyelitis case in a 40-year-old male patient. Contiguous-focus bone infections from infected prosthetic devices are more frequently observed in adult males, who are more exposed to trauma (Jorge et al., 2009). Three