ABSTRACT
Several animal models have been reported for the study of orthopaedic prosthetic infection. They include total joint replacement, skeletal implant, and soft tissue model. The soft tissue model is actually a foreign body infection model. A careful selection of an animal model for a study of prosthetic infection is the key for an ultimate result. Theoretically, to imitate a human situation it is better to use a large animal such as a sheep, goat, or dog, especially when attempting to design a joint replacement prosthesis as the implant. Common pathogens isolated from human prosthetic infections should be used for most of the in vivo infection models, such as S. aureus, S. epidermidis, or less frequently E. coli, proteus, or some anaerobics. Animal models are excellent for studying the effects of prophylactic and therapeutic antibiotics on prosthetic infection because of the homogeneity of the animals for good comparison, reproducibility, and easily controlled time periods for observation.
