Overall Clinical Experience with Aztreonam in the Treatment of Intraabdominal Infections

Response to aztreonam (1-2 g administered intravenously three or four times daily) was evaluated in a multiclinic study of 113 patients with intraabdominal infections due to gram-negative aerobic organisms. Appropriate therapy with an antibiotic (usually clindamycin) active against gram-positive and/or anaerobic organisms was administered concomitantly for mixed-pathogen infections. A favorable clinical response and microbiologic cure occurred in 90% of the patients treated. All of the 13 patients with infections due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa responded clinically, and 11 of the 13 patients experienced microbiologic cure. In a comparative study, 59 patients were treated with aztreonam and 56 were treated with tobramycin (3-5 mg/kg per day); 95% of the patients in the aztreonam group and 81% of those in the tobramycin group experienced microbiologic cure.