[Ambulatory parenteral antibiotic therapy]

The paper sums up the current knowledge on the outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy, the information is based on the experience with this type of treatment in the USA. The introduction gives the reasons for outpatient as opposed to inpatient therapy. The first part of the paper discusses the indications and the contraindications of outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy, the choice of the adequate antibiotic, the organisation of this treatment and the cooperation between the doctors, nurses and patients. The second part of the paper deals with specific diseases and the possibility of their treatment by means of outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy.