Antifungal properties of silver coating on tumour endoprostheses: an in vitro study

OBJECTIVE: We tested and quantified the in vitro effect of silver coating on preventing development of fungal biofilm over titanium, as found in some megaprosthesis used for musculoskeletal oncological reconstruction, to evaluate the antiseptic effect of this additional feature on this class of pathogens. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Different strains and species of Candida (C. albicans, C. tropicalis, C. parapsilosis) were cultured over 6 silver-coated and 6 non silver-coated titanium (Ti-6Al-4V) samples following a standardized procedure. Then spectrophotometrical analysis and viability assay were conducted after 5 days of incubation to quantify the different extension of biofilm produced by pathogens RESULTS: Significant differences between groups (p<0.05) were found in terms of biofilm extension and pathogens viability over the different materials for any single experiment reported, with silver-coating group showing substantially lower values in terms of fungal development in all conducted assays. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that silver coating is a reliable and effective implementation for antifungal purpose, in addition to its widely known and demonstrated antibacterial potential. Therefore, the use of silver-coated implants may be an even wiser choice in an oncological surgical procedure where patients are particularly at risk for this infective complication due to immunosuppression caused by pharmacological treatments, although the relevant antifungal potential here shown needs to be confirmed in vivo.