Outcome Analysis of the Use of Cerament® in Patients with Chronic Osteomyelitis and Corticomedullary Defects

Marcel Niemann; Frank Graef; Sufian S Ahmad; Karl F Braun; Ulrich Stöckle; Andrej Trampuz; Sebastian Meller

doi:10.3390/diagnostics12051207

Outcome Analysis of the Use of Cerament^® in Patients with Chronic Osteomyelitis and Corticomedullary Defects

Diagnostics (Basel). 2022 May 11;12(5):1207. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics12051207.

Authors

Marcel Niemann^{1

2}, Frank Graef¹, Sufian S Ahmad^{1

3}, Karl F Braun^{1

4}, Ulrich Stöckle¹, Andrej Trampuz¹, Sebastian Meller¹

Affiliations

¹ Center for Musculoskeletal Surgery, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, 13353 Berlin, Germany.
² Julius Wolff Institute for Biomechanics and Musculoskeletal Regeneration, Berlin Institute of Health at Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany.
³ Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany.
⁴ Department of Trauma Surgery, University Hospital Rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, 80333 Munich, Germany.

Abstract

Background: Chronic osteomyelitis (OM) is a progressive but mostly low-grade infection of the bones. The management of this disease is highly challenging for physicians. Despite systematic treatment approaches, recurrence rates are high. Further, functional and patient-reported outcome data are lacking, especially after osseous defects are filled with bioresorbable antibiotic carriers.

Objective: To assess functional and patient-reported outcome measures (PROM) following the administration of Cerament^® G or V due to corticomedullary defects in chronic OM.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study from 2015 to 2020, including all patients who received Cerament^® for the aforementioned reason. Patients were diagnosed and treated in accordance with globally valid recommendations, and corticomedullary defects were filled with Cerament^® G or V, depending on the expected germ spectrum. Patients were systematically followed up, and outcome measures were collected during outpatient clinic visits.

Results: Twenty patients with Cierny and Mader type III OM were included in this study and followed up for 20.2 ± 17.2 months (95%CI 12.1-28.3). Ten of these patients needed at least one revision (2.0 ± 1.3 revisions per patient (95%CI 1.1-2.9) during the study period due to OM persistence or local wound complications. There were no statistically significant differences in functional scores or PROMs between groups.

Conclusion: The use of Cerament^® G and V in chronic OM patients with corticomedullary defects appears to have good functional outcomes and satisfactory PROMs. However, the observed rate of local wound complications and the OM persistence rate may be higher when compared to previously published data.

Keywords: Cerament®; bone infection; bony defect; osteomyelitis.

Grants and funding

We acknowledge support from the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Open Access Publication Fund of Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin (grant number 433849769).