Seventeen patients had gentamicin-PMMA beads implanted for treatment o
f orthopedic infections. The authors found that beads implanted in pat
ients for 3 to 36 weeks were capable of eluting high levels of antibio
tic after retrieval. Beads that were implanted in patients for less th
an 10 weeks eluted significantly higher antibiotic levels than beads w
ere implanted for more than 14 weeks. This study supports the local us
e of these beads in the treatment of musculoskeletal infections.