[Monotherapy with meropenem in febrile granulocytopenic patients]

Infection remains the major cause of morbidity and mortality for cancer patients who become granulocytopenic. Combinations of beta-lactams plus aminoglycosides have been the standard empiric therapy for febrile granulocytopenic patients, especially those with profound long-lasting granulocytopenia. The advent of new broad-spectrum cephalosporins and carbapenems has favoured the possibility of empiric monotherapy. Meropenem is a parenteral carbapenem antibiotic stable to renal dehydropeptidase-I which has excellent bactericidal activity against almost all clinically significant aerobic and anaerobic organisms. Meropenem hasta an antibacterial spectrum similar to that of imipenem but it is more active against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, all Enterobacteriaceae, Haemophilus influenzae, Proteus spp, Morganella spp and Providencia spp. Recently, the efficacy, safety, and tolerance of meropenem monotherapy for the empirical treatment of fever in granulocytopenic cancer patients have been compared in two large prospective randomized multicenter trials. The Meropenem Study Group compared monotherapy with meropenem versus ceftazidime and the EORTC conducted a comparative study of meropenem monotherapy versus the combination of ceftazidime plus amikacin. In both groups, success rates were similar by type of infection and infection-related mortality was low. Related adverse events were also similar in both groups. These studies confirm that monotherapy with meropenem is as effective as ceftazidime-containing regimens for the empiric treatment of fever in granulocytopenic patients.