[Efficacy and safety of cefbuperazone in severe infections complicating hematologic diseases Hanshin Infection Study...

Cefbuperazone (CBPZ) was administered to patients with severe infections complicating hematologic diseases to assess its efficacy and safety under such clinical conditions. Primary diseases in this series of 78 cases included; acute leukemia in 41 cases, chronic leukemia in 6 cases, other leukemia in 9 cases, malignant lymphoma in 13 cases, multiple myeloma in 3 cases, aplastic anemia in 5 cases and 1 other case. Types of infection included sepsis; proven or suspected, in 59 cases, pulmonary infection in 8 cases, upper respiratory infection in 5 cases, and other cases. CBPZ was infused by an intravenous drip method at a dosage of 4-8 g daily. Patients' ages ranged from 14 to 85 years. Clinical response to the CBPZ regimen was excellent in 24 cases, good in 22 cases, fair in 2 cases, and poor in 30 cases. Thus the overall efficacy rate (percentage of cases showing an excellent or good response) was 59.0%. Efficacy rates for individual types of infection were: documented sepsis 16.7%, suspected sepsis 58.5%, lower respiratory infection 62.5%, and upper respiratory infection 100%. CBPZ also proved to be effective in 61.0% of cases with a neutrophil count of less than 500/mm3 prior to therapy. Side effects encountered were diarrhea in 1 case, gastric discomfort in 1 case and hepatic dysfunction in 5 cases. These side effects, however, were not dose-related, and none were serious. These results indicate that CBPZ has a high therapeutic efficacy even in patient with compromised immunodefenses.