Observations on the toxicity of the combination of gentamicin and mezlocillin in the treatment of patients with acute leukaemia

Abstract

In a retrospective study we have compared the toxic side effects related to the use of two antibiotic regimens in the treatment of febrile episodes in neutropenic, leukaemic patients undergoing first remission-induction. Nephrotoxicity was more severe in the gentamicin-mezlocillin (G/M) group: four patients developed oliguric renal failure and two others showed rises in the serum creatinine of more than 0.03 mmol/l. One of the two patients in the gentamicin-ticarcillin (G/T) group who showed nephrotoxicity developed renal failure. Ototoxicity and skin rashes were more commonly observed with G/M than with G/T, and the differences were statistically significant for both ototoxicity (P = 0.0004) and drug rashes (P = 0.02). The cause of the observed differences in toxicity has not been identified.