High dose intravenous ciprofloxacin in febrile neutropenic patients

We have evaluated the use of high-dose intravenous ciprofloxacin as monotherapy in the empirical therapy of febrile episodes in neutropenic patients during the course of a randomized trial comparing ciprofloxacin with a standard combination regimen. Sixty-four episodes of fever were studied in a high risk population of 42 patients mostly undergoing intensive chemotherapy for leukaemia. Ciprofloxacin achieved clinical responses as follows: completely successful in 39%, partially successful in 20%, and unsuccessful in 41%. Infections were microbiologically documented in 37 (58%), with Gram-positive bacteria (of which 37% were coagulase negative staphylococci and 34% were streptococci) accounting for 81% of all organisms cultured. Responses in documented infections were as follows; completely successful in 32%, partially successful in 27%, and unsuccessful in 41%. One infection-related death occurred 30 h after starting ciprofloxacin, and a further three patients died before the resolution of neutropenia. The early death was caused by fulminant infection with a ciprofloxacin-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa. No other ciprofloxacin resistance was seen amongst eight Gram-negative isolates. There was no evidence of emerging ciprofloxacin resistance during the course of the study. Ciprofloxacin was associated with a low incidence of adverse events with skin rash (five cases) and nausea (one case) being reported as possibly or probably related to ciprofloxacin. We conclude that high-dose intravenous ciprofloxacin may be safely employed as monotherapy in the empirical treatment of febrile episodes in neutropenic patients. It has the additional advantages of twice daily administration, the availability of intravenous and oral presentations, and absence of cross-allergy in beta-lactam antibiotic hypersensitive patients.