Prevention of Candida infections on titanium-based biomaterials

Prosthetic Joint Infections are one of the most dangerous and devastating complications following total joint replacement, with important implications for patient health and high costs for Public Health. Fungi infections are a concern for the orthopedic community due to their recent increasing incidence and their resistance to antifungals.

Nowadays, these infections are prevented by the prophylactic administration of antifungals. In the actual research, scientists propose an alternative to this approach through the local prevention of the infections using coatings deposited on the implants and loaded with antifungals. In this manner, new biodegradable coatings were synthesised with antifungals incorporation for the drug local release. Coatings were prepared using sol-gel technology based on 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate (MAPTMS) and tetramethyl orthosilicate (TMOS). Two different fungicides (fluconazole and anidulafungin) were separately introduced at different concentrations. Coatings were deposited on powder metallurgical titanium (TiPM) substrates by dip-coating technique.