Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Our objective was to prospectively determine the factors influencing the probability of a good microbiological or clinical outcome in patients with nosocomial pneumonia treated with a fluoroquinolone. Levofloxacin was administered as an infusion of 500 mg/h for 1.5 h (total dose, 750 mg). For patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a second drug was added (ceftazidime or piperacillin/tazobactam for P. aeruginosa and vancomycin for methicillin-resistant S. aureus). Population pharmacokinetic studies of 58 patients demonstrated that this population handled the drug differently from populations of volunteers. Multivariate logistic regression analysis (n=47 patients) demonstrated that only the age of the patient and the achievement of an area under the curve: minimum inhibitory concentration ratio of > or =87 had a significant effect on eradication of the pathogen (P or =67 years old.
Drusano et al. (Wed,) studied this question.