Pseudoallescheria boydii soft tissue abscess.

Pseudoallescheria boydii, a fungus often isolated from soil, commonly causes a mycetoma. Successful treatment involves resection of the infected area and appropriate antifungal chemotherapy. In vitro sensitivity of P. boydii to miconazole is usually demonstrated, but resistance to amphotericin B and 5-fluorocytosine is often observed. Limited data are available on the treatment of this infection with ketoconazole. An usual case of nontraumatic P. boydii soft tissue infection without draining sinus tracts occurred in a 50-year-old woman. Nontraumatic P. boydii soft tissue infection was diagnosed by cytologic preparation and fungal cultures of the aspirate. The patient was successfully treated with en bloc resection for four months of oral ketoconazole.

Effect of hyperbaric oxygen on the blood: cerebrospinal fluid transfer of tobramycin.

The blood:cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) transfer of the aminoglycoside antibiotic, tobramycin (TOB) was assessed in rabbits. The CSF:blood ratio of TOB, 90 min after a subcutaneous injection, was approximately 1:100 as measured by an agar disc diffusion bioassay. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy at a pressure of 3 ATA caused a slight, non-significant, increase in this ratio, while high dose carbon dioxide, a treatment known to damage the blood:brain barrier, more than doubled this ratio. Thus, hyperbaric oxygen has no significant effect on CSF concentration of TOB in rabbits with intact meninges.

Randomized evaluation of ceftazidime or ticarcillin and tobramycin for the treatment of osteomyelitis caused by gram-negative bacilli.

Ceftazidime, a new cephalosporin with enhanced activity against aerobic gram-negative bacilli, was compared with tobramycin and ticarcillin in a randomized clinical trial. Efficacy and safety were evaluated in 18 patients (17 males, 1 female) with gram-negative osteomyelitis. All organisms were susceptible to the treatment antibiotics(s). There were nine patients treated with tobramycin and ticarcillin for 27 to 62 days (mean, 42 days), and nine patients were treated with 4 g of ceftazidime per day for 26 to 63 days (mean, 45 days). All nine patients receiving tobramycin and ticarcillin had the osteomyelitis arrested after the initial treatment. Follow-up was for 2 to 38 months (mean, 22 months). Of nine patients receiving ceftazidime three were initial treatment failures. Follow-up was for 13 to 31 months (mean, 21 months). A patient receiving ceftazidime had a transient rise in serum glutamic oxalacetic transaminase and serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase. There were three treatment failures in the ceftazidime group; no failures occurred in the group receiving the combination of ticarcillin and tobramycin. A larger series would be required to detect a significant difference between the two treatment groups.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus osteomyelitis.

In five patients, the diagnosis of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) osteomyelitis was made by clinical and roentgenographic methods and confirmed by bone biopsy cultures. The treatment was staged according to the anatomic setting of the infection and the systemic and local competence of the host. Seven episodes of osteomyelitis were encountered in the five patients. Two patients had persistence of their infection and were successfully treated by additional surgical debridement, antibiotics, and adjunctive hyperbaric oxygen. Vancomycin was administered to all patients. The daily dosage of vancomycin ranged between 100 mg and 2.0 gm. The length of vancomycin therapy ranged from 19 to 56 days. Five of seven biopsy specimens grew bacterial organisms in addition to MRSA. The MIC of vancomycin for MRSA ranged between 0.39 and 1.56 micrograms/ml. Osteomyelitis was arrested in five of seven episodes, and follow-up evaluations ranged from two to 35 months. Two of five (40%) patients receiving the combination of vancomycin and tobramycin developed signs of renal toxicity. Renal function returned to normal after discontinuation of the antibiotics. MRSA osteomyelitis is usually acquired by spread from a contiguous focus of infection and is often polymicrobic in nature. Treatment with vancomycin or vancomycin plus tobramycin when the infection was polymicrobic was effective. The combination of vancomycin plus tobramycin is potentially nephrotoxic.

Cefmenoxime therapy in bacterial osteomyelitis.

Cefmenoxime, a new parenteral beta-lactamase-resistant cephalosporin, was evaluated for safety and efficacy in 15 patients (10 male and five female) with acute (1 patient) and chronic (14 patients) osteomyelitis. Diagnosis was made by culture of the surgical biopsy specimen. Osteomyelitis was treated with 8 to 12 g of cefmenoxime per day (mean 9.1 g) for 42 to 66 days (mean 47.3). Staphylococcus aureus was the most frequently isolated organism. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of cefmenoxime were determined and all pathogens were inhibited by 12.5 micrograms/ml or less, except for Enterobacter cloacae and Acinetobacter species, both of which had an MIC of 25.0 micrograms/ml. All patients had at least one surgical debridement. Of the 15 patients, 10 (67 percent) had the osteomyelitis "arrested." These patients have been followed up five to 14 months after completion of cefmenoxime therapy. Toxicity studies indicated mild elevations in serum glutamic oxalacetic transaminase and serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase in two patients. Cefmenoxime appears to be a safe and effective antibiotic in the treatment of osteomyelitis.