Cefotam concentrations in the sinus fluid of patients with chronic sinusitis after administration of cefotiam hexetil

Abstract

Cefotiam hexetil is a prodrug of cefotiam. The concentrations of cefotiam in plasma and sinus secretions were determined in 18 patients (10 males, 8 females, aged 39.3 +/- 13.0 years) with chronic sinusitis. All patients received two 200 mg oral doses of cefotiam hexetil 12 h apart and were divided into four groups according to the time which elapsed between the last dose and collection of secretion samples. The last dose was given 2 h (group I), 3 h (group II), 4 h (group III) or 6 h (group IV) before sinus puncture. Cefotiam concentrations were measured by high-pressure liquid chromatography and microbiological assay, results being very similar with both methods. Mean concentrations of cefotiam with the standard deviation in sinus exudates were 1.04 +/- 0.60 mg/l at 2 h (n = 6), 1.04 +/- 0.33 mg/l at 3 h (n = 4), 0.75 +/- 0.74 mg/l at 4 h (n = 4) and < 0.10 mg/l at 6 h (n = 4). Mean sinus fluid concentrations were higher than mean plasma concentrations in all groups. These results suggest that cefotiam concentrations higher than the MICs for common pathogens are found in sinus secretions up to 4 h after oral administration of cefotiam hexetil.