[A study of the diffusion of cefamandole into bronchial secretions (author's transl)]

The penetration of cefamandole into bronchial secretions was investigated in 5 tracheostomized patients with respiratory tract infections and purulent or mucopurulent expectorations. Bronchial secretions were collected by aspiration through the cannula at successive predetermined times after an intravenous injection of 1.5 g of the drug. Cefamandole concentrations in simultaneous samples of serum and bronchial secretions were measured by the agar diffusion microbiological method. Useful concentrations of cefamandole were obtained in bronchial secretions, with an early peak (mean: 1.97 microgram/ml; range: 0.5 -- 4.6 microgram/ml) one hour after the injection. The ratio of bronchial concentration to simultaneous serum concentration reached 24% six hours after the injection. These results show that cefamandole achieves bronchial concentrations which are superior, or at least equal, to the MICs of organisms responsible for respiratory infections. This and the resistance of cefamandole to beta -lactamases suggest that this second generation cephalosporin can be valuable in acute bronchopulmonary infections.