Objective: To test the hypothesis that antibiotic-laden polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) pin sleeves prevent infection around skeletal external fixation pins.
Design: An experimental study using an animal model was conducted.
Animals: In each of five goats, three four-millimeter half-pins were placed in the left and right iliac crests, for a total of thirty half-pins. The pins were infected with one milliliter of broth containing 7.6 x 10(5) colony-forming units per milliliter of Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923).
Intervention: The pins in the right iliac crest were treated with the tobramycin-impregnated pin sleeves, and the pins in the left iliac crest (control) were left untreated.
Results: The results showed clinical evidence of infection (i.e., looseness and gross pus) and heavy bacterial growth (average 6.8 x 10(10) colony-forming units per milliliter) for the untreated pins, but no clinical evidence of infection and no bacterial growth at forty-eight hours for the treated pins.
Conclusion: The present results indicate that the use of the antibiotic-impregnated PMMA pin sleeve can prevent the development of pin-tract infection and appears to prevent colonization of the external fixation pins.