I-Corps: Drug delivery device for treatment of prosthetic joint infection

Award ID: 2042632

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a drug delivery system for use in joint replacement surgery and in trauma applications, spine infections, and ankle and shoulder replacements. Joint replacements are successful but occasionally complicated by postoperative infections, as are other orthopaedic procedures. The proposed technology will deliver antibiotics to those surgical sites to reduce infections. The technology will allow antibiotic concentrations to be maintained at higher levels for longer periods of time, which may shorten treatment durations currently leaving patients without a hip or knee for months at a time. This I-Corps project is based on the development of a drug delivery system to treat post-operative joint infections (PJI) for conditions including joint arthroplasties/ The current treatment algorithm for the treatment of postoperative joint infections requires intravenous antibiotics along with surgery to debride the area and deliver antimicrobials locally. Traditionally, this includes the delivery of antimicrobials through the use of bone cement, polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA). Antimicrobials delivered in this fashion reach minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC); however, the primary culprit causing persistent PJI is often bacterial biofilm. The ability to adequately treat and eradicate biofilm-related infections requires an antibiotic concentration known as the minimum bacterial eradication concentration (MBEC), which is 100-1000 times greater in concentration than the MIC. Current drug delivery is limited to a burst elution pattern, with limited duration at the MIC and cannot be modified once surgery is complete. The proposed technology seeks to improve drug delivery to allow higher levels of local delivery that may be increased or changed as culture results warrant. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Program Director: Ruth Shuman