The response of porous hydroxyapatite to contiguous tissue infection.

Two patients are presented in whom severe clinical infection developed in tissue adjacent to and contiguous with previously implanted blocks of porous hydroxyapatite. Both infections resolved with appropriate antibiotics, debridement, and drainage of infected tissues. Hydroxyapatite blocks were left in situ. This unusually favorable response of an alloplast to infection is attributable to the abundant vascular supply of this porous implant. Although reliable dogma can hardly be concluded from two clinical examples, these experiences suggest that once ingrown, porous hydroxyapatite does not behave in a fashion that is typical of foreign bodies in the midst of infection. For the first time, clinical evidence has been offered to support the experimental data that vascularized hydroxyapatite has the ability to resist infection.