[Clinical and pharmacokinetic studies on aztreonam in neonates]

Clinical and pharmacokinetic studies on aztreonam (AZT) were performed in neonates. The results are summarized as follows: A total of 6 cases consisting of 5 mature and 1 low-birth-weight infants was clinically evaluated. AZT 20 mg/kg was administered 2-3 times daily, via 1 hour intravenous drip infusion for 6-21 days. Concomitantly, vancomycin (VCM) 15 mg/kg was administered to 1 case 3 times daily, via 1 hour intravenous drip infusion for 3 days and ampicillin (ABPC) 20-50 mg/kg to 3 cases 3 time daily via 30 minutes intravenous drip infusion for 2-6 days. Of the 6 bacterial infection cases (1 with sepsis and purulent meningitis, 2 with sepsis, 2 with urinary tract infection and 1 with perirectal abscess), clinical effects of AZT were evaluated in 4 cases (2 each with sepsis and urinary tract infection) as "excellent" in all the cases. All of the causative organisms (Escherichia coli in 3 and Enterobacter cloacae in 1) were eradicated by the treatment with AZT. Neither clinical side effect nor abnormal laboratory test value caused by AZT was observed. MICs of AZT against 10 clinical isolates (Staphylococcus aureus 1, E. coli 4, Klebsiella pneumoniae 1, E. cloacae 1, Haemophilus influenzae 1 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa 2) from neonatal patients with bacterial infections were examined. As results, AZT showed very good antibacterial activity comparable or even superior to cefoperazone, cefotaxime, latamoxef; however, the activity against P. aeruginosa was inferior to imipenem.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)