Occult microbial contamination in tissue expansion

✍ Scribed by G. B. Stark; K. Jaeger

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1990
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 212 KB
• Volume: 13
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1435-0130
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00184401

✦ Synopsis

In 38 patients who underwent tissue expansion, microbiology swabs from the implant bed and expander lumen were routinely cultured at the time of expander removal. Of the 61 cultures performed 42% were positive. Along with various potentially pathogenic bacteria and skin commensales, staphylococci were the strains isolated most frequently. In only two cases this contamination correlated with a clinically apparent infection or expander exposure. The results suggest that bacterial contamination is a common feature in expansion, which does not necessarily lead to an infection and failure of the method. Infection is predominantly a problem of impaired local resistance, especially microcirculatory derangements.