ANTIBACTERIAL THERAPY FOR PURULENT-SEPTIC COMPLICATIONS IN PATIENTS WITH COMBAT RELATED PENETRATING CRANIOCEREBRAL...

Aim - to evaluate pathogens and their susceptibility to antibiotic therapy (ABT) in combat-related penetrating craniocerebral gunshot wound (PCGW) patients and develop recommendations for treatment of post-traumatic meningoencephalitis. We conducted a prospective analysis of examination and treatment results of 121 patients who were admitted to the Public Institution, Mechnikov Dnipropetrovsk Regional Clinical Hospital, Dnipro, Ukraine, from 25 May 2014, to 31 December 2017, and were successively enrolled in the study. Intracranial purulent-septic complications were diagnosed in 14 (11.6%) patients including eight cases of isolated meningoencephalitis, three cases of meningoencephalitis combined with ventriculitis, two cases of meningoencephalitis combined with ventriculitis and subdural empyema and one case of multiple brain abscesses. In most cases of combat-related craniocerebral wounds, infections are considered nosocomial and typically related to medical procedures and devices. In most cases, the effectiveness of first-line antibiotics was low, and it was often necessary to prescribe broad-spectrum ABT, including those related to second-line antibiotics and reserve drugs, according to the World Health Organisation classification. The use of initial de-escalation of empiric ABT with the broadest-spectrum drugs, mainly as a part of combination therapy for expected gram-positive and gram-negative aerobic and anaerobic infection pathogens, is recommended.