Teicoplanin in the treatment of gram-positive bacteraemia in neutropenic patients

Abstract

The increasing incidence of bacteraemia caused by Gram-positive bacteria in neutropenic patients prompted the authors to evaluate, in a prospective trial, the role of teicoplanin in the treatment of this infection. Over a 15-month period, 76 cases of bacteraemia (out of 265 evaluable episodes of fever) were observed at the Division of Haematology, University La Sapienza, Rome. Of the 76 cases studied, 46 (60%) were caused by Gram-positive bacteria and 28 (37%) were caused by Gram-negative bacilli. All febrile episodes were treated randomly and empirically with piperacillin plus amikacin with or without teicoplanin. Overall, 41 (54%) of the 76 cases of bacteraemia responded to the initial antibiotic regimen; with subsequent modifications the response rate rose to 96%. In the treatment of Gram-positive bacteraemia, first-line administration of teicoplanin was found to be associated with early defervescence and with a significantly higher rate of success without modification of treatment (P less than 0.01). Addition of teicoplanin as second-line therapy produced a favourable outcome in 12 (70%) out of 17 cases of bacteraemia unresponsive to the initial piperacillin + amikacin regimen. No cases of Gram-positive bacteraemia associated with septic shock or adult respiratory distress syndrome were observed in either treatment group. Only two late deaths were observed, and these occurred in patients with streptococcal septicaemia who were not receiving early teicoplanin. The above data do not endorse the use of glycopeptide antibiotics in the early treatment of fever in neutropenic patients: rather, these compounds should be reserved for proven or presumed Gram-positive infections which do not respond to initial beta-lactam/aminoglycoside treatment.