Clinical outcome of nosocomial pneumonia following imipenem/cilastatin therapy

Eighteen patients in a neurosurgery intensive care unit who had nosocomial pneumonia and/or bacteremia were treated with imipenem/cilastatin. The 16 patients who were evaluable had pneumonia; 4 of these had concurrent bacteremia. Eleven patients had a satisfactory clinical response (69 percent) and all patients with positive blood cultures had the organism eradicated. There were 44 organisms isolated from the initial culture of bronchial secretion and 32 of these organisms were gram-negative bacilli (72.5 percent). One patient with pneumonia who initially had Pseudomonas aeruginosa sensitive to imipenem developed resistance during therapy. Adverse effects were minimal; one case of nausea occurred, which was thought to be related to a short infusion time. The most prominent laboratory abnormality was an increase in platelet count, seen in 50 percent of treated patients.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. G. Sakka, A. K. Glauner, J. B. Bulitta, M. Kinzig-Schippers, W. Pfister, G. L. Drusano, and F. Sorgel Population Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Continuous versus Short-Term Infusion of Imipenem-Cilastatin in Critically Ill Patients in a Randomized, Controlled Trial Antimicrob. Agents Chemother., September 1, 2007; 51(9): 3304 - 3310. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A Torres, T T Bauer, C León-Gil, F Castillo, F Alvarez-Lerma, A Martínez-Pellús, S R Leal-Noval, P Nadal, M Palomar, J Blanquer, et al. Treatment of severe nosocomial pneumonia: a prospective randomised comparison of intravenous ciprofloxacin with imipenem/cilastatin Thorax, December 1, 2000; 55(12): 1033 - 1039. [Abstract] [Full Text]