Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of intravenous ciprofloxacin versus meropenem in the treatment of postoperative infection.

Author(s): Kusachi S, Sumiyama Y, Takahashi Y, Kato K, Mashita K, Takeyama H, Oda S, Kobayashi S

Affiliation(s): Department of Surgery, Toho University, Medical Center Ohashi Hospital, 2-17-6, Ohashi, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 153-8515, Japan, kusachi@med.toho-u.ac.jp.

Publication date & source: 2011-10-19, J Infect Chemother., [Epub ahead of print]

Therapeutic options for postoperative infection in gastrointestinal surgery are limited. To identify new treatment alternatives, the Japan Society for Surgical Infection conducted a multicenter prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trial comparing the efficacy of intravenous ciprofloxacin (CIP IV) and intravenous meropenem (MEM IV). Between July 2005 and May 2008, the trial recruited patients who developed postoperative infection or had suspected infectious systemic inflammatory response syndrome after elective clean-contaminated gastrointestinal surgery. All patients had received prophylactic postoperative antibiotic treatment. Patients received either intravenous CIP IV 300 mg b.i.d. or MEM IV 500 mg b.i.d. A total of 205 patients from 31 institutions were enrolled. Of these, 101 were randomized to CIP IV and 104 to MEM IV. There were 100 and 102 in the intent-to-treat (ITT)/safety population and 75 and 77 in the per-protocol (PP) population. There was no significant difference between CIP IV and MEM IV in terms of clinical efficacy, bacteriological efficacy, incidence of adverse drug reactions, duration of antimicrobial treatment, or relapse/reactivation. Overall clinical success PP population) was high in both treatment groups: 85.3% (64/75) for CIP IV and 89.6% (69/77) for MEM IV, although the non-inferiority of CIP IV was not demonstrated (difference -4.3%, 95% CI -14.8, 6.2). In patients who had undergone upper gastrointestinal surgery, success was 88.5% (23/26) for CIP IV and 85.2% (23/27) for MEM IV. Intravenous ciprofloxacin is as effective as intravenous meropenem in the empiric therapy of postoperative infection after gastrointestinal surgery.