Parenteral and oral fluconazole for acute cryptococcal meningitis in AIDS: experience with thirteen patients.

OBJECTIVE: Cryptococcus neoformans infections of the central nervous system affect up to ten percent of AIDS patients. Standard therapy with amphotericin B with or without 5-flucytosine has a high rate of failure, relapse, and toxicity. Fluconazole is a new triazole antifungal agent available in both oral and intravenous forms that has shown efficacy in the primary and maintenance treatment of cryptococcal meningitis in AIDS patients. In this open, noncomparative trial, we evaluated the safety and efficacy of intravenous fluconazole followed by oral fluconazole in the treatment of acute cryptococcal meningitis in AIDS patients. METHODS: Thirteen AIDS patients with acute cryptococcal meningitis, or relapse after successful primary therapy, received 400 mg of intravenous fluconazole daily for 12-16 days followed by oral fluconazole 400 mg/d for the duration of primary therapy. If cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cultures converted to negative within 32 weeks of treatment, the fluconazole dose was decreased to 200 mg/d as maintenance therapy. RESULTS: Fluconazole therapy was successful in six patients (46 percent) and unsuccessful in seven (54 percent). Of the seven patients considered unsuccessful, one demonstrated clinical improvement but remained CSF-culture positive, five were clinical failure and were switched to amphotericin B therapy, and one died after two weeks secondary to cryptococcal meningitis. No patient experienced any adverse reactions necessitating discontinuation of therapy. CONCLUSIONS: In this small group of patients, moderate doses of parenteral and oral fluconazole for acute cryptococcal meningitis in AIDS patients demonstrated failure rates similar to those reported in other studies with fluconazole and with amphotericin B. As there was no difference in initial Karnofsky scores or the severity of disease in treatment successes versus failures, it is difficult to determine who might respond to fluconazole as initial therapy or who should be treated initially with another agent. Further studies and clinical experience are needed.

Steady-state pharmacokinetics of intramuscular imipenem-cilastatin in elderly patients with various degrees of renal function.

We studied the concentrations in plasma and pharmacokinetics of imipenem and cilastatin in elderly patients (greater than 65 years old) who had various degrees of renal function and who were hospitalized with soft tissue infections. Three groups of patients received imipenem-cilastatin (500/500 mg) intramuscularly every 12 h: group I consisted of eight patients with a creatinine clearance (CLCR) of greater than 50 ml/min (range, 51 to 84 ml/min; mean, 65.8 ml/min); group II consisted of three patients with a CLCR of 20 to 50 ml/min; and group III consisted of two patients with a CLCR of less than 20 ml/min. Imipenem and cilastatin concentrations were measured at steady state on day 5. Mean peak and trough plasma imipenem concentrations were 5.28 +/- 1.78 and 1.43 +/- 0.76 micrograms/ml in group I, 6.25 +/- 0.78 and 2.50 +/- 0.00 micrograms/ml in group II, and 14.3 +/- 0.71 and 6.85 +/- 1.06 micrograms/ml in group III, respectively. Mean peak and trough plasma cilastatin concentrations were 11.8 +/- 2.85 and 0.31 +/- 0.43 microgram/ml in group I, 15.5 +/- 2.48 and 2.03 +/- 2.05 micrograms/ml in group II, and 24.5 +/- 6.72 and 10.7 +/- 5.94 micrograms/ml in group III, respectively. Mean imipenem AUCss (area under the concentration-time curve over a dosage interval at steady state) values were 38.7 +/- 7.9 micrograms.h/ml for group I, 52.3 +/- 7.3 micrograms.h/ml for group II, and 143.7 +/- 11.9 micrograms.h/ml for group III. Mean cilastatin AUCss values were 45.6 +/- 12.5 micrograms.h/ml for group I, 93.8 +/- 51.2 micrograms.h/ml for group II, and 217.5 +/- 57.8 micrograms.h/ml for group III. Cilastatin mean apparent body clearance values (normalized to weight) were 2.78 +/- 0.67 ml/min for group I, 1.43 +/- 0.81 ml/min for group II, and 0.71 +/- 0.24 ml/min for group III. Imipenem open-lactam metabolite levels were all below the level of detective of the assay (<3.9 micrograms/ml). There was a progressive increase in plasma imipenem and cilastatin levels and AUCss and there was a decline in body clearance as renal function declined.