Effects of cefotetan disodium, cefoxitin, cefazolin, and cefotaxime in vitro on polymorphonuclear leukocytes from patients with leukopenia and severe pelvic inflammatory disease.

The effects of cefotetan, cefoxitin, cefazolin, and cefotaxime on polymorphonuclear leukocyte chemotaxis and chemiluminescence were determined in 10 patients with pelvic inflammatory disease and 10 oncologically treated patients. It was found that cefotetan enhanced both chemotaxis and chemiluminescence, with the favorable effects more pronounced in the oncologically treated patients with leukopenia. Cefotaxime depressed polymorphonuclear leukocyte functions. Cefoxitin and cefazolin had no significant effects. It would be logical, when treating empirically, to choose a regimen that enhances and not depresses host defenses in all patients but more expressly in leukopenic and other immunologically compromised patients.