REGIONAL perfusion, first described by Creech and co-workers in 1958,1 with cancer chemotherapeutic agents for neoplastic diseases is a method of delivering to the area of disease, a concentration of the antineoplastic drug that would not ordinarily be tolerated systemically as well as delivering a significantly greater concentration of the drug per unit weight of tumor. A similar technique using antibiotics was also described by Ryan et al2,3,4 and has been explored and evaluated over the past six years in our clinic. A number of clever and seemingly useful modifications of the regional approach to treatment have been discussed and described (antitoxin perfusions for snake bite; antifungal perfusion for localized fungus disease [coccidioidomycosis and blastomycosis]) since the application of the extracorporeal pump circuit was first described
The perfusion method of treatment for osteomyelitis is an obvious choice to be explored since the disease represents a localized involvement of