[Pharmacokinetical and clinical study of cefpirome in children]

This study describes the pharmacokinetic characteristics and clinical usefulness of cefpirome (CPR) in children. Mean half-lives of 20 mg/kg and 40 mg/kg of CPR injected intravenously in one shot were 1.18 and 1.34 hours, respectively, and their mean recovery rates into urine were 69.8 and 72.2%, respectively. Minimum inhibitory concentrations of CPR against Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli and Haemophilus influenzae were the same as or lower than those of ceftazidime. CPR was clinically effective in 14/15 of patients with bacterial infections; 8/9 of pneumonia, 2/2 of bronchitis, 1/1 of pharyngitis, 1/1 of tonsillitis, 1/1 of osteomyelitis, 1/1 of urinary tract infection. No clinically overt side effects of CPR were found, while an increase of eosinophils in blood was observed in 2 cases, and an increase of platelet in blood in 1 case and an elevation of serum GPT activity in 1 case were also observed. These findings indicate that CPR is useful for the treatment of bacterial infections in children.