Infection Mitigation Efficacy of Photoactive Titania on Orthopedic Implant Materials

In order to impede infection and achieve accelerated wound healing in the postorthopaedic surgery patients, a simple and benign procedure for creating nanotubular or nanofibrillar structure of photoactive TiO(2) on the surface of Ti plates and wires is described. The nanoscale TiO(2) films on titanium were grown by hydrothermal processing in one case and by anodization in the presence of dilute mineral acids under mild and benign conditions in the other. Confocal microscopy results demonstrated at least 50% reduction in the population of E. coli colonies (concentration 2.15 × 10(7) cells/mL) on TiO(2)-coated implants upon an IR exposure of up to 30 s; it required ∼20 min of exposure to UV beam for the same effect. These findings suggest the probability of eliminating wound infection during and after orthopedic surgical procedures by brief illumination of photoactive titania films on the implants with an IR beam.