Design and Development of Antibacterial Metal Implants

Abstract

AbstractThe implant-related bacterial infection is an important issue to be solved in clinic for a long time, which usually results in great pains and economic burdens to the patients. Metals are widely used to manufacture many types of implantable devices for orthopedic, dental, vascular, and other applications owing to their excellent mechanical properties. Developing antibacterial metal implants from the perspective of material design is a novel strategy to reduce the risk of implant-related infection. In recent years, novel medical metals with antibacterial functions have been developed by proper addition of Cu, a well-known antibacterial metal element, into the clinically used medical metals including stainless steel, titanium alloy, and cobalt-based alloy, as well as biodegradable magnesium alloy in development. Their strong, broad-spectrum, and long-lasting antibacterial performances as well as inhibitory effect on biofilm formation have been confirmed by both in vitro and in vivo studies, which will bring new clinical values for the metal implants. This chapter gives a brief review on the research and development of these novel antibacterial metals and looks forward their future application prospects in clinic.KeywordsInfectionMetalImplantCuAntibacterialBiofilm